Twisted Time and the Shinigami Academy
by Hollow Mashiro
Summary: When Ichigo comes across a strange object in Urahara's basement, he is transported to the past when Rukia and Renji are entering the Shinigami Academy. Ichigo enrolls as well to prepare for the Winter War, but chaos loves to follow him... Time travel.
1. Disappearance

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Bleach.

Ichigo's thoughts: _Hi_

Shiro: **Hi**

Zangetsu: /_Hi_/

* * *

Chapter 1/Prologue—Disappearance

Urahara stood, stretched, and let out a weary sigh. He had almost completed his "little project". He had been working on it tirelessly ever since Aizen's betrayal, hoping that it would be able to help the Shinigami in the upcoming war.

"Are you done experimenting with that thing yet?" asked Yoruichi. She had just entered the Urahara Shoten's extensive basement and was the only one other than Tessai who knew of Urahara's little project.

"Yeah, I just need to make a few more adjustments to the kido that power this thing and it'll finally be complete."

Yoruichi tensed in anticipation. "Be careful."

Urahara grinned nonchalantly and said, "Don't worry about it! The rewards are greater than the risks!"

Yoruichi scowled and started to nervously pace while watching Urahara kneel down again to finish tinkering with his experiment. One of her best friends was toying with one of the most dangerous aspects of the universe, and she didn't like it.

Finally, after what seemed like hours to the former commander of the punishment force, Urahara stood once more. "I'm really exhausted. All the reiatsu needed to create this thing has worn me out. Good night, Yoruichi." he stated wearily, seemingly unaware of his best friend's anxiety and giving her the not-so-subtle hint that he would like to be left alone for the remainder of the night.

"Good night, Kisuke." Yoruichi acquiesced with Urahara's implied request and shunpoed out of the Urahara Shoten, too tense to stay in one spot. Hopefully the cool night air would be able to calm her swirling thoughts.

* * *

The next day…

"Why hello, Kurosaki-san, Kuchiki-san! What I can do for you today?"

Rukia replied, exasperated, "I need a new gigai. The one I have is destroying my reiatsu." Rukia glared at Urahara. "Now is not the time to be using anything that would weaken my reiatsu, even if I'd become untraceable in it. We need power to deal with Aizen, not stealth."

Urahara nodded in agreement. "I thought you would come to me about that soon. The power-draining gigai is the quickest and easiest gigai for me to make, so when I received your order, I made one of them. You did demand the gigai on short notice. My intention was for you to use it for one day only while I made a normal gigai. You are getting charged extra for this, you know. Anyway, your normal gigai is now ready for use."

Rukia's glare intensified. "Funny how you never mentioned the extra cost when I first contacted you…"

Urahara ignored her. "Kurosaki-san, could you please go downstairs and get it for me?"

"Fine," Ichigo sighed. He was in Shinigami form since he had been fighting hollows before he and Rukia came to the Urahara Shoten.

Ichigo jumped down the ladder and landed softly on the rough ground. He began glancing around for Rukia's new gigai and spotted it slumped against one of the numerous boulders that dotted the training room.

_Why do I get the strange feeling I've forgotten something important?..._ Urahara wondered as he watched Ichigo disappear down the ladder.

Ichigo crouched down to pick up Rukia's gigai when he saw a flash of light in the corner of his eye.

_Wonder what that is…_ Ichigo thought as he stepped towards the shining object.

/_Be careful, Ichigo. That stone has a strange, almost dangerous reiatsu about it and I don't like it._/Zangetsu cautioned Ichigo. After sealing his inner hollow in the innermost portions of his soul, Ichigo had started to interact with his zanpakuto daily. Zangetsu was an excellent teacher and had helped Ichigo to complete the hollow-mask-endurance training with the Vizards. (1)

_Relax, Zangetsu. It doesn't seem to be dangerous._ Ichigo thought, knowing his zanpakuto would be able to hear him perfectly.

/_I'm just warning you…_/

Zangetsu seemed tense, almost scared. It took a lot to alarm Ichigo's zanpakuto, so Ichigo approached the object warily.

_It's just a stone._

/_I still don't like the reiatsu it's emitting…_/

_It looks perfectly safe._

Ichigo picked the stone up and began to examine it. It looked like a normal rock, except for the shiny, almost glassy surface on one side. Unexpectedly, the stone honed in on Ichigo's wild reiatsu and started to glow. Before either Ichigo or Zangetsu could react, there was a brilliant flash of light and both the stone and Ichigo vanished.

* * *

Meanwhile...

Both Urahara and Rukia stiffened as they felt Ichigo's reiatsu vanish. Urahara gasped as he remembered what he had forgotten.

_Oh no!! Ichigo must have-_

"What happened to Ichigo?! His reiatsu just vanished! What's in that basement, Urahara?!"

Rukia turned and was about to jump downstairs when Urahara grabbed her arm.

"I know exactly what happened to Kurosaki-san. Please calm down a little bit and I'll explain everything..."

_Everything was a jumble of pictures and sensations. Images streaked by in a slideshow of color, making Ichigo slightly nauseous. Ichigo was unable to discern what many of the images showed before they were whisked away._

What happened to me? Where am I? Did that rock do this?_ Ichigo wondered dazedly._

**/I told you not to mess with that thing! Now look what's happened!!/**_ Zangetsu was furious, but Ichigo's attention was directed elsewhere by a couple of someones he recognized very well._

Hey, look, it's Rukia… and Renji! But what the heck are they dressed in? _Ichigo thought._

_As soon as Ichigo's attention was on that image, he began to spiral towards it, as if he were being sucked into an invisible whirlpool. Ichigo panicked at the sudden motion of being tossed about like a rag doll, and soon his vision went black. As soon as his world went dark, Ichigo felt like his head had suddenly split in two. Ichigo ignored the pain, however, and realized that he felt like he was falling. As the sensation of free fall disappeared, light and sound reappeared around Ichigo._

Ichigo crashed to the ground. His last sensations were of the rough ground under him and the dappled light (from a tree or forest?) on his face, then everything went black once again as Ichigo sank into unconsciousness.

* * *

(1) At this time in the canon, Ichigo can only hold the hollow transformation for 11 seconds. But in this fanfic, since Ichigo now communicates daily with his zanpakuto, he has been able to master holding the hollow transformation for extended periods of time. His current record's 21 hours, 37 minutes and 44 seconds.

Yes, I know Shiro was the one that originally talked to Ichigo about the stone. But I'm adding an extra scene to chapter two that will explain why Shiro's been silent and how he's introduced to the story. It'll fill a pretty big plothole, as well as give me material to work off of in the future. It'll also just about double the length of chapter two.

This is my first fanfic so please be nice! I know it isn't the best start but please bear with me. Sorry this chapter is kinda short but I wanted it to end with a cliffhanger. I'll get the next chapter posted as soon as I can!!

***Note: This is set after Ichigo's Vizard training and before Orihime is kidnapped.

I redid this chapter because I felt like it. I reread it and thought, _I wrote THIS?!_ I hope you enjoy the revised version.

No flames for all the changes!! Please?

-HM


	2. Taken In

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Bleach.

Shiro: **Hi**

Ichigo's thoughts: _Hi_

Zangetsu: /_Hi_/

* * *

Chapter 2—Taken In

Renji and Rukia were traveling through the woods of Soul Society on the path that led to the 78th district of Rukongai, their home. They were returning from the marketplace of one of the nicer districts. Rukia and Renji had just bought a clean, new yukata each with money saved over the years, since they wanted to make a good first impression on the testers at the Shinigami Academy. They were entering the Academy for several reasons; both had enough reiatsu to become a Shinigami, all of their friends had died, and they wanted to find a better life.

While walking home, they stumbled across an unconscious youth. He didn't seem to be hurt, just unconscious. He looked to be about the same age as them, but what caught their eyes was the vivid orange color of his hair. He was wearing a brown yukata, not unlike the ones Renji and Rukia had just purchased. They stared at him with mild interest since it is not every day one stumbles across an unconscious teenager. Rukia could have sworn she had seen the strawberry-headed youth lying in front of her somewhere before. Renji was trying to replace his own curiosity with indifference. In the poorer districts of Rukongai, you lived, you fought for a miserable life, and you died. Makeshift families came together for necessity, and each family member needed to contribute some useful skill to help the family survive. Renji could not see any kind of useful skill in the youth, and he knew that the youth's outrageous hairstyle was bound to attract unwanted attraction.

"What should we do with him?" asked Rukia. She wanted to grab the unconscious youth and make sure he would be safe until he woke up, even though she knew by doing so she put strain on herself and Renji.

"I say we leave him here. He doesn't look like he'll be of any help to us. Besides, we can't go lugging him around, since we'll be applying for Shinigami Academy soon. He probably passed out since he got drunk at one of the nearby bars, and most likely doesn't have the slightest trace of reiatsu," Renji said disdainfully.

"You don't know that!" Rukia defended the youth loudly. She was furious at Renji's shortsightedness.

Renji opened his mouth to loudly retaliate, but the youth at their feet groaned and started to stir.

* * *

Ichigo regained consciousness in his inner world. The first thing he saw was Zangetsu, who looked extremely displeased.

"Alright, I know I shouldn't have picked the stone up, so spare me the lecture. Please." Ichigo sighed, while at the same time maneuvering himself into a sitting position.

"_Usually I'd ignore that statement and lecture you anyway, but right now we have more pressing things to worry about._"

"What do you mean? Wait – you know what that stone did, don't you? You're really good at sensing the effects of certain kido spells…"

"_The stone had several kido enchantments on it to allow travel through time and space. However, I don't know where or when we are. It also seems to have rather… interesting effects on Vizards._"

"What?" Zangetsu pointed to something behind Ichigo. Ichigo turned, and immediately sprang to his feet and grabbed Zangetsu's hilt.

The hollow had returned.

"How the hell did you come back?! I thought I had sealed you in the deepest corner of my soul when I defeated you!!" Ichigo snarled. The white ribbon encasing Zangetsu started to unwind.

"**I thought Zangetsu answered that question**," the hollow snapped. Though his tone was irritated, the hollow made no move to grab the white Zangetsu.

Ichigo settled into his ready stance, preparing for the hollow's attack. He was immensely surprised when the white Zangetsu didn't come to meet his own sword. Ichigo was even more surprised when he discovered the white Zangetsu's location: on the hollow's back, with the black ribbon still wrapped around it.

"Hey, aren't you going to attack me or something?" Ichigo ventured uncertainly. Why had the hollow become so… mild… all of a sudden? Where had the hollow's bloodlust gone?

"**Just leave me alone. Whatever that stone did gave me a killer migraine, so I'm in no mood to fight**," the hollow grumbled. With that, the hollow turned and leaped away.

Ichigo stood, stunned, for a moment, before hesitantly sheathing Zangetsu. He turned to the manifested form of his zanpakuto, before pointing in the direction the hollow had bounded off to and asked, "Who is he and what has he done with my real inner hollow?"

Zangetsu looked troubled. "I don't know… But you'd better go, lest we somehow wound up in Hueco Mundo…"

Ichigo nodded. "Alright. See you later, Zangetsu."

Ichigo disappeared from his inner world.

* * *

Ichigo came to, but didn't open his eyes. His head felt like it was going to split apart. Those loud, buzzing noises in the background weren't helping either. He soon realized those buzzing noises were voices. Very familiar voices. Ichigo groaned. His head throbbed painfully as he cracked open his eyelids. Pulsating colors were swimming in front of his eyes. Those colors quickly subsided into two blurry human shapes with tree leaves in the background.

Ichigo stared, astonished, at the two people in front of him.

_It's Rukia… and Renji! _he thought.

He was about to happily call their names when Zangetsu interrupted, saying, /_Wait! Pretend to not recognize them! Take a good look at their clothes. They aren't wearing a Shinigami's shihakusho. We don't know where or when this is, so don't do anything rash._/

_Thanks for pointing that out. Hopefully I'll put on a convincing act. But what about my shihakusho? And your sword form, Zangetsu?_

_/You're obviously not alright, because if you were, you would have noticed that your shihakusho has changed into a yukata, like the ones worn in the poorer districts of Rukongai, and my sword form has vanished_./ Zangetsu stated.

Ichigo nodded mentally at his zanpakuto and looked up at Rukia and Renji, hoping they'd buy his act…

* * *

"Look Renji, he's coming to!" Rukia said excitedly.

The youth looked at them confusedly. Rukia could tell by the vivid clearness in his eyes that he was fully aware of his surroundings, and not drunk, but he seemed to be in pain.

After a few seconds the youth blinked and asked, "Where… am I?" He winced after he said those words. He was defiantly in pain.

"You're lying in the middle of a path in a forest near South Rukongai District 78," Rukia said kindly. "You look like you're in pain. Are you hurt?"

"I have a splitting headache but otherwise I'm alright," the youth replied.

"What's your name? And how did you end up unconscious in the middle of this path, anyway?" Renji asked suspiciously. Rukia could tell he didn't trust this mysterious youth lying in front of him.

After those words, Ichigo realized that this was before he had ever met Renji and Rukia, and probably even before they had entered the Shinigami Academy.

_At least we know where and when we are_, Ichigo thought sullenly.

Ichigo quickly knew he should lie about how he got onto the forest path, but what about his name? Should he tell them his true name or not?

_What the heck. I'll tell them my real name,_ Ichigo decided.

"My name is Ichigo Kurosaki. I was mugged here because my hair gets lots of negative attention," Ichigo replied.

"That's easy enough to believe," said Renji knowingly. His own hair got him plenty of negative attention.

"What are your names?" Ichigo inquired, feigning ignorance.

"My name is Rukia, and my friend here is Renji. We were just on our way home when we came across you. We'll take you with us, if you want," Rukia said gently.

Renji was about to protest hotly, but Ichigo answered Rukia before Renji could say a word. "Thank you very much. I'd love to come with you. I live alone, so no one will worry when I don't go home tonight. Can you please help me up?"

Rukia and Renji grabbed Ichigo's arms and hauled him to his feet. They supported him as they walked – in Ichigo's case, limped - towards Rukia and Renji's home. Ichigo could still tell Renji wasn't happy about the whole arrangement, but he kept his negative thoughts to himself. When they finally reached their destination, Ichigo immediately took pity on Rukia and Renji. Their home was nothing more than rags nailed to a flimsy wood frame with a trash can for fires near it.

/_At least it's got an excellent view_./ noted Zangetsu dryly. Ichigo had to agree. The house was under a grove of spindly trees near a wide riverfront. The river water was a pale blue, and the sunset sparkled brilliantly off the clear water.

"It's not much, but it's near the river, so we always have enough fish to eat," Renji stated flatly. His dislike for Ichigo was still apparent.

"Speaking of fish, it's dinnertime. Ichigo, could you please help us catch a fish for dinner?" Rukia asked.

"Since you don't have any spirit energy, you won't need to eat any of the fish," Renji said. He was obviously proud he had lots of spirit energy.

"Who said I didn't have any spirit energy? I'm hungry too. Renji, grab a couple of long, thick branches." Ichigo gestured toward the sticks littering the ground. "We'll need to sharpen the ends to points before attempting to catch anything. Rukia, look around and see if there is any rosemary, green dill, parsley, or thyme around here," Ichigo commanded. For the first time Renji and Rukia noticed the strong pressure Ichigo emitted. (1)

Both Renji and Rukia were so shocked that they started to do their jobs silently and without protest. Renji was far more surprised than Rukia. Ichigo and Renji started fishing at roughly six, judging by the sun's position in the sky, and within an hour they had caught two salmon. Rukia found some fresh dill and had set to work at extracting the edible parts of the plant from the inedible parts. By 7:30 they had, in Renji and Rukia's eyes, a feast. They had never had so much to eat that they hadn't stolen. Needless to say, they were enjoying themselves thoroughly.

"Well, well. It looks like you three are having yourselves a feast. Where did you steal those fish from this time? And where did you pick up the orange-haired freak?" All three of the youths jumped as a voice cut through their meal.

"Who are they?" Ichigo inquired, unconcerned. He knew he could easily defeat them.

"Those are a few thugs from further in town! They like to steal food away from the hungry just to make them miserable, even though they feel no hunger themselves. We don't stand a chance against them, considering their numbers!" Rukia hissed angrily. Ichigo could see the resigned anger in her eyes and could finally see the brash, bold Rukia he knew in them.

Ichigo stood and took a defensive stance in front of Rukia and Renji.

"Ichigo! You don't have a chance of defeating them! Stand down!" Rukia growled at Ichigo in a louder, more commanding tone.

"Stop worrying about me and start worrying about yourself," Ichigo sighed. He had already had this discussion one too many times rescuing her from the Seireitei and had no desire to begin it again.

Meanwhile Renji was trying to figure out how to get out of the situation with minimal injuries without seeming like cowards.

"Seems like your friend here wants to challenge us. Watch him get beaten to a bloody pulp!" the thug's leader sneered. He was very obviously looking forward to a good fight and seeing Rukia's and Renji's distress.

The leader gave a signal and the thugs howled, attacking as one. Ichigo quickly ran up to meet them, careful to avoid using shunpo. He quickly took out three of the thugs with well-aimed punches and kicks.

"So you're a fighter, eh? Try this on for size!" the leader yelped excitedly. He and the rest of the members of his gang drew out daggers, and in one case, a pitchfork.

Renji jumped to his feet to go help Ichigo, but Rukia grabbed his arm and cried, "No, Renji! I don't want to see you cut up and dying too!"

Renji started to pull away from her grasp and was about to sharply retort that he couldn't allow Ichigo to be killed because he was too cowardly to join the brawl when Ichigo turned and actually _smiled_ at them.

"Don't worry about it. These thugs don't stand a chance," he quipped lightly.

"Oh, is that so? Your arrogance will be your death, boy!" the leader hissed. His anger quickly spread to the other group members, who began to individually challenge Ichigo.

Ichigo was easily able to dodge the thugs' clumsy attacks. He began to quickly knock them out with kicks to the head and stomach. Rukia and Renji were amazed at how rapidly and efficiently Ichigo was taking the thugs out. Soon, only the leader was left. The leader roared angrily at Ichigo and charged at him, sword held high. Ichigo had gotten overconfident since all the thugs were weaklings, and thus underestimated the leader. Ichigo dodged the attack, but quickly realized that the leader with a veteran fighter when he got a cut on his right cheek and two on his chest. Ichigo narrowed his eyes and increased his speed but he inadvertently raised his reiatsu as well.

/_Ichigo! Your reiatsu just rose!_/Zangetsu warned_. _/_Lower it again or you'll blow your cover!_/

Ichigo just as quickly lowered his reiatsu but not before Rukia and Renji noticed the change in reiatsu. Ichigo winced. He had hoped to avoid revealing his abnormally strong reiatsu.

Unfortunately Ichigo was so caught up in controlling his reiatsu that he didn't notice the leader at his left until too late. Ichigo dodged the fatal attack but got a long scratch on his left arm.

/_Ichigo! What's the matter with you?! You're going to get us all killed! Pay attention! You're at a captain's level! You should have no trouble at all knocking him out! You shouldn't even be scratched!_/ Zangetsu roared.

Ichigo quickly ducked under the leader's guard and knocked him out. He berated himself silently.

_Zangetsu's right. I let my guard down._

Renji and Rukia ran up to him, shock, relief, and delight on their faces.

"That was amazing, Ichigo!" Renji said ecstatically.

Rukia gazed in awe at Ichigo. He had won the fight!! Against incredible odds, and with minimal injuries, too. Rukia shook herself out of her reverie. Some of those scratches, especially the one on Ichigo's left arm, looked nasty. "I'll bandage your wounds now, Ichigo," she said.

"Thanks."

(0o0)

A while later the three friends were sitting around the trash can, warming themselves in the cold evening. Flames leapt from the logs, creating dancing shadows on the friends' faces. The firelight revealed Rukia's face to be pensive. She had been mulling over Ichigo's slight increase in… that pressure… during the brawl. After a while, she finally spoke her mind.

"Ichigo, I realized during that fight that you have sufficient spiritual powers to become a Shinigami. Renji and I are going to be applying for the Shinigami Academy in a few days. Would you like to come and apply with us?"

Ichigo blinked in momentary surprise, then started to mull over the rewards and the consequences.

_If we go we could learn kido, and by extension, Cero. Cero IS like kido. On the other hand, it'll be a real struggle to keep my crazy reiatsu hidden._

/_I think we should go. You'll need as much training as you can get before challenging Aizen. I vote yes._/

Ichigo replied, "I'll apply for Shinigami Academy with you."

* * *

(1) Remember, Rukia and Renji haven't been to the Academy yet, so they don't know what reiatsu is.

I finished my second chapter! It's a lot longer than the first one!!! Yay!!!! Please reveiw! It still isn't great but please bear with me to the end! I'll get chapter 3 up as soon as possible!

1. It would be odd (understatement) if someone with above-captain-class reiatsu suddenly appeared unconcious in the middle of a random forest path. Ichigo's "cover" is that of a reiatsu-gifted soul in the middle of Rukongai. Ichigo's hoping to keep his reiatsu at or below a lietenant's level.

-HM


	3. Entrance

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Bleach.

Shiro: **Hi**

Ichigo's thoughts: _Hi_

Zangetsu: /_Hi_/

* * *

Chapter 3 – Entrance

In another time and another place, Rukia was beating up a certain blond shopkeeper.

"Why the hell did you leave something like that out?! You stupid idiot!" Rukia ranted. She continued to scream at Urahara for several more minutes before she finally regained her composure.

Urahara had told Rukia what had happened to Ichigo and, needless to say, she wasn't very happy about it.

"Tell all of Kurosaki-san's friends what's going on and to come and join us at 11:00 pm in one week," Urahara groaned. He had bruises. Lots of bruises. And when Yoruichi came back those bruises would multiply. Several times over.

"Fine. Your little contraption has caused us lots of trouble," Rukia growled. She stormed off in a very foul mood.

* * *

One week later…

Ichigo, Renji, and Rukia were walking leisurely down the main road in South Rukongai toward the Seireitei. Rukia was explaining the entrance exam to Ichigo.

"There are five tests you will take: hakuda, or hand-to-hand fighting; hoho, or footwork; zanjutsu, or swordplay; kido, magic; and lastly basic knowledge of the zanpakuto and hollow, like shikai, bankai, the different types of zanpakuto, what hollows look like, their types, etc. You need to pass three of the five tests to be accepted into the Shinigami Academy. If you pass more than three tests or if you have abnormally high reiatsu you are put into the advanced class," Rukia explained.

"We registered you as soon as you decided you were coming to the Academy with us," Renji added.

As they entered the wealthier portions of South Rukongai, they were often glared at and avoided, as if they had some sort of disease. Even though all three of them bathed and washed their clothes before they left, they were still treated like scum. The three were glad when they had been admitted into the Seireitei and into the Academy's waiting room. Everyone seemed to be really tense.

"What's the commotion about? Why does everyone seem so nervous?" Rukia asked another student-in-waiting.

"Haven't you heard? A 4th seat squad member got punished and was sent here to review our exams!" she whispered back. Ichigo, Renji, and Rukia were stunned, Rukia and Renji especially so.

"I wonder how they decide who goes first," Ichigo wondered aloud to try and cut through the tension.

"It looks like it's on a first-come, first-serve basis," Rukia observed.

They waited for what seemed an eternity before one of their names was called out.

"Renji Abarai!"

"Wish me luck," Renji whispered. He stood from his seat and strode into the testing room. After about a half hour Renji returned, looking pleased with himself.

"You obviously made it in. Which class are you in?" Ichigo inquired.

"The advanced class!" Renji said smugly.

"Rukia Inuzuri!" Rukia looked nervous as she entered the testing room. Her stride was slightly shaky and she looked paler than usual. Even though Rukia's testing time was the same length as Renji's, Rukia's behavior before entering the testing room made the wait much longer to Ichigo and Renji. When Rukia emerged from the room, both Ichigo and Renji tensed. She looked crestfallen.

"Did you make it?" asked Renji urgently.

_I know she made it into the Shinigami Academy, but I don't think she made it into the advanced class_, Ichigo realized.

"I'm in, but I'm in the regular class, not the advanced class," Rukia replied sullenly, confirming Ichigo's hunch.

"Hey! At least you made it in!" comforted Renji, patting her encouragingly on the back.

"Ichigo Kurosaki!"

"Good luck," Rukia murmured.

Even though Ichigo knew he could pass with flying colors, he still felt slightly nervous. He hoped that he wouldn't start the exam by humiliating himself with his lack of experience with kido.

_Zangetsu, can you please suppressing my reiatsu? _Ichigo asked. _We don't want them to know that I have above-captain level reiatsu, nor do we want them to find out about my inner hollow. Speaking of which, what's he been up to?_

/_I don't know. I haven't seen him for a while…_/ Despite Zangetsu's disconcerting words, Ichigo relaxed as he felt his request of reiatsu suppression being carried out.

Ichigo entered the testing room. It was fairly large, with three Shinigami sitting at a desk against the left wall. The Shinigami on the right was the first to approach Ichigo.

"Hello. My name is Amaya Hikari and I will be the one to test you. The other two Shinigami are Kohaku Kibo and one of the 4th seats of the 13th division, Sentaro Kotsubaki."

_Hey, wasn't he one of the people with Ukitake trying to save Rukia? And wasn't he always fighting with that strawberry-blonde midget?… _Ichigo wondered.

"We will begin with your knowledge of a zanpakuto. State everything you know," Amaya said flatly, obviously bored.

Ichigo promptly replied, "A zanpakuto is the reincarnation of the user's soul, configured into a blade. The zanpakuto has two releases. The first release is called shikai. A Shinigami can reach shikai by establishing a harmony with the zanpakuto and learning the zanpakuto's name. The second release is called bankai. To obtain this release, a Shinigami must manifest the true form of their zanpakuto, then force it into submission. Some zanpakuto are simply power types. Others are elemental, like a fire or ice zanpakuto. Yet other zanpakuto rely on the Shinigami's reiatsu to form attacks."

Amaya seemed to be surprised at Ichigo's thorough knowledge of the zanpakuto. Those from Rukongai usualy didn't have access to a means to obtain the knowledge that Ichigo had just carelessly spewed. "State all of your knowledge about hollows," she ordered. Ichigo could tell from Amaya's sudden lack of monotone that she was getting more interested in his knowledge, and by extension, his abilities.

"Hollows are fallen souls. They are distinguishable by a hole in the chest and a white mask. They usually have a monstrous appearance. When hundreds of hollows combine, they form a Gillian class Menos Grande. If individuality is kept in a Menos Grande, it eventually evolves into an Adjuchas. After a period of time, the Adjuchas evolves into a Vasto Lorde. Their numbers are few, but their power is greater than that of the average captain," Ichigo stated. He was about to continue when Amaya cut him off.

"You seem to be very knowledgeable. You have passed the first test. Kohaku-san will now be testing you in hoho, kido, hakuda, and zanjutsu."

_I hate kido_, Ichigo grumbled silently.

Kohaku approached Ichigo and said, "I will first be testing you in hoho. You need to touch me five times in ten minutes in order to pass. Begin!"

Ichigo started off by making sure not to use shunpo or sonido. The testers would be very curious to find out where and how Ichigo had learned the hollow flash steps.

Kohaku began the test by quickly spinning away from Ichigo. Ichigo easily matched his speed and tapped him once on the head and once on his right arm. Kohaku seemed surprised that Ichigo could keep up with him, so he increased his speed. Ichigo matched the speed change flawlessly, and in quick succession tapped Kohaku on his left shoulder, right knee, and chest. The entire test took two minutes.

"Very good," Kohaku praised; he seemed to be impressed with Ichigo's abilities. "Now we move to the kido test." Ichigo mentally groaned at the pronouncement. "You will perform bakudo number one, Sai. Focus your reiryoku into your fingertips and try to shape it into ropes to bind me while saying, 'Bakudo, number one, Sai.' The incantation will help you focus your reiryoku. Understand?" Ichigo nodded unenthusiastically.

_I _hate_ kido_.

/_Just stay focused, and you'll do fine._/

Ichigo brought his hands up, focused his unwieldy reiryoku, and intoned, "Bakudo, number one, Sai!"

The kido actually did what it was supposed to and restrained Kohaku, albeit Ichigo's ropes were visible and brightly glowing. Unfortunately, the kido only lasted for a few seconds before blowing up in Kohaku's face, knocking him unconscious. There was an awkward silence, then Sentaro stood up and sighed, "Since Kohaku is unconscious, I will test you in hakuda and zanjutsu." Sentaro approached Ichigo. "We will start with hakuda. Good luck," he said politely.

Sentaro quickly advanced on Ichigo and aimed a punch at Ichigo's head. Ichigo dodged and kicked at Sentaro's stomach. Sentaro blocked and, sensing Ichigo's experience, began to attack in earnest. Ichigo kept dodging or blocking Sentaro's attacks and managed to get a few of his own attacks under Sentaro's guard.

After a few minutes Amaya called out, "Stop!" and halted the test. Both Sentaro and Ichigo were breathing heavier than normal.

"Well done!" Sentaro grinned enthusiastically. "Amaya! It's not against protocol to allow the examiner and examinee at least a minute or two to regain our strength, is it?"

Amaya seemed surprised that Sentaro had asked for such a thing. Perhaps all of the other prospective Shinigami took more time completing (or failing) the hoho test than Ichigo. "I don't think it is…" she replied hesitantly.

"Great," Sentaro grinned before turning to Ichigo. "Hey, you're pretty good, kid. Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

"I took some karate when I was still alive," Ichigo answered automatically.

"Wow! You still remember parts of your life in the world of the living? You must have a ton of spirit energy…" There was a slightly awkward pause before Sentaro continued. "Y'know, kid, you look an awful lot like my lieutenant, Kaien Shiba… Are you related to him?"

"No…" _Come to think of it, wasn't the 13th squad lieutenant-less when I went to the Soul Society? Shiba… Ganju's dead brother? Was he the one Rukia killed?_

A sudden mental image of Kukaku pounding her younger brother into a pulp flitted into Ichigo's head. Ichigo suppressed a shudder. He would _definitely _make sure to avoid the Shibas while in this time period.

"Well, time to get back to the testing. Good luck, kid," Sentaro said. He approached the east wall and grabbed an asauchi. During the lull in testing and conversation, Ichigo contacted Zangetsu.

_Thanks for suppressing my reiatsu. I would be in a lot of trouble if it wasn't repressed._

/_Don't mention it. I don't feel like being thrown into the 12th division's labs because of your above captain-class reiatsu and inner hollow_./

Ichigo shuddered at the mention of the mad scientist's lair. _That's a really good reason to stay under the radar._

"Alright, break's over. Now I'll be testing you in zanjutsu. Go over to the east wall and choose a nameless zanpakuto," Sentaro commanded.

Ichigo strode over to the right wall and started examining the asauchi hanging on the wall. He chose an asauchi that was five feet long, the one that was most similar to Tensa Zangetsu. He hefted it in his hand, getting a feel for its weight and maneuverability. The weapon felt foreign and crude in Ichigo's hands, but it was to be expected of an unfamiliar katana.

Ichigo turned and returned to Sentaro. "I'm ready."

"Good. The zanjutsu test is exactly like the hakuda test. Begin!" Sentaro roared.

Ichigo ran behind Sentaro and aimed the asauchi at Sentaro's shoulder, keeping his speed at barely below shunpo level. Sentaro blocked, eyes widening. The kid could move that fast?! Ichigo kept Sentaro on his toes for the entire testing period, demonstrating a level of skill only attained by one who has had a skilled master. After several minutes of heated sparring, Sentaro stumbled slightly on a loose floorboard. Ichigo saw the opening and took advantage of it, knocking the asauchi from Sentaro's hands and putting his own asauchi at the fourth seat's throat.

All three Shinigami were dumbfounded (by this point Kohaku had regained consciousness). A person who hadn't even completed one year at the Academy defeating a fourth-seat officer? It was unheard of.

Amaya managed to pull herself together enough to say, "Welcome to the Advanced Class if the Spiritual Arts Academy, Kurosaki. We'll take your reiatsu level now as well; you'll receive your schedule outside. You may leave."

* * *

Ichigo left the room and sauntered over to Rukia and Renji. He tried to keep a straight face but could not help breaking into a grin when he saw their worried faces.

"I made it into the advanced class," Ichigo said modestly. After all, it wasn't surprising (considering his abilities) that he was put into the advanced class.

"That's great!" Renji exclaimed enthusiastically. "I wonder if we'll have any classes together…"

"Great job, Ichigo!" Rukia grinned sadly. Ichigo could tell she was happy for her friends, but also really upset she hadn't made it into the advanced class with them.

"Renji Abarai, Rukia Inuzuri, Ichigo Kurosaki! Your schedules are ready!" A voice called from an adjacent room. The three friends entered the adjoining room, where they received a uniform and their schedules.

"You will have more uniforms placed in your private dorms when you arrive. Classes start on the first of August. The asauchi you used will be given to you at the Academy after you have demonstrated enough skill to use it responsibly without badly injuring someone. You may go."

* * *

Rukia, Renji, and Ichigo returned to Rukongai before excitedly reviewing their schedules.

"Why don't we compare schedules? That way we'll know if we have any classes together," Renji suggested.

"This is my schedule," Ichigo said, holding up aforementioned schedule.

_

Ichigo Kurosaki – Advanced Class

Reiatsu Level – 7

Dorm 2nd floor, Room 204

Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Hoho – Theory (8:30-10:30)

Hoho – Practical (10:40-12:00)

Lunch (12:10-1:00)

Zanjutsu – Theory (1:10-3:10)

Zanjutsu – Practical (3:20-4:40)

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday

Hakuda – Theory (8:30-10:30)

Hakuda – Practical (10:40-12:00)

Lunch (12:10-1:00)

Kido – Theory (1:10-3:10)

Kido – Practical (3:20-4:40)

Sundays are free.

_

"Wow! 7th class reiatsu?! That's as powerful as some lieutenants, Ichigo!" Renji exclaimed.

"7th class? You're kidding me!" Rukia gasped at the same time as Renji.

_Zangetsu, I thought you were going to suppress my reiatsu._

/_I did the best I could. Besides, lieutenant level is better than above-captain level._/ Zangetsu retorted.

_Point taken._

"Can I see your schedules now?" Ichigo asked.

"Let's look at mine first," Renji grinned, shoving his schedule under the noses of his friends.

_

Renji Abarai – Advanced Class

Reiatsu Level – 3

Dorm 5th floor, Room 534

Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Hoho – Theory (8:30-10:30)

Hoho – Practical (10:40-12:00)

Lunch (12:10-1:00)

Hakuda – Theory (1:10-3:10)

Hakuda – Practical (3:20-4:40)

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday

Zanjutsu – Theory (8:30-10:30)

Zanjutsu – Practical (10:40-12:00)

Lunch (12:10-1:00)

Kido – Theory (1:10-3:10)

Kido – Practical (3:20-4:40)

Sundays are free.

_

"It looks like I have hoho and kido with you, Renji," Ichigo observed.

"What about your schedule, Rukia?" asked Renji, ignoring Ichigo.

_

Rukia Inuzuri – Regular Class

Reiatsu Level – 2

Dorm 6th floor, Room 657

Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Hakuda – Theory (8:30-10:30)

Hakuda – Practical (10:40-12:00)

Lunch (12:10-1:00)

Kido – Theory (1:10-3:10)

Kido – Practical (3:20-4:40)

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday

Hoho – Theory (8:30-10:30)

Hoho – Practical (10:40-12:00)

Lunch (12:10-1:00)

Zanjutsu – Theory (1:10-3:10)

Zanjutsu – Practical (3:20-4:40)

Sundays are free.

_

"It looks like you don't have any classes with either Renji or me," Ichigo sighed.

"You're forgetting that she's in the regular class. She wouldn't have any classes with us anyway," Renji grinned.

"You don't have to rub it in!" Rukia grumbled.

* * *

After returning to their home, Rukia and Renji had immediately gone to bed. They had used a large amount of reiryoku during the testing, and it had tired them immensely. Ichigo, having no such problems with a shortage of reiryoku, was sitting outside and staring at the waterfront. His surroundings were very peaceful, helping him to relax. The night air was warm, a soft breeze ruffled Ichigo's hair, and starlight reflected off the clear river. Ichigo closed his eyes blissfully. If only he could have more peace like this on a regular basis…

Of course, all peace is shattered at one point or another.

**King?**

Ichigo stiffened in alarm. What the hell was the hollow doing? And why the hell wasn't he trying to take over his body?

**Because you crushed me to the ground during Vizard training, that's why. **

_But how…?_

**I'm able to hear your thoughts just as well as Zangetsu, ya know. **Ichigo suddenly got a mental image of the hollow rolling his eyes exasperatedly.

_But…_

**You're pathetic, you know that?**

Ichigo spluttered indignantly. _No I'm not!!_

The hollow laughed. It wasn't the hollow's normal high-pitched, slightly insane shrieking, but rather a couple of slightly shrill chuckles. **I beg to differ. Look at you; you're falling apart at the first sign of something unexpected that you can't explain. In this case, it would be the civil conversation you're holding with me. **The hollow obviously felt Ichigo's shock, and chuckled again. **I prove my point.**

_But… if you've been able to communicate with me all this time, why haven't you done it before?_

**Simple. I was sleeping 'cause I felt like a couple of tap dancers were using my head as their stage. And because you would start acting like a lunatic in front of Renji and Rukia if I had contacted you in their presence. **

_Okay… Hey, where's Zangetsu?_

**He's leaving us alone. I had a long talk with him while you were with Rukia and Renji.**

_Right… _Ichigo felt so off-balance. He was having a sane, rational discussion with his inner hollow. Said inner hollow had apparently given up trying to take over his body, and was acting – dare he say it? – slightly friendly.

**Don't get too used to this. I may be your horse, but I refuse to be your lapdog.**

_Gotcha… _A thought struck Ichigo. Calling his inner hollow 'inner hollow' or 'hey, you' would get awkward after awhile. _Hey, you, what's your name._

**I've told you a million times that I DON'T HAVE A NAME!!!!! And I don't want one, either.**

_Too bad. _Ichigo thought for a moment before coming up with a suitable name. _Shirosaki. It's close to Kurosaki, and makes perfect sense because you're a pure white doppelganger of me…_

**Shirosaki's too long. I'd like just plain Shiro better.**

_Alright, I guess…_

**So, you're going to the Academy, right? I could understand going to learning kido, but zanjutsu, hakuda, and hoho will just be a waste of time. Besides, learning from Zangetsu and myself would be the quickest way for you to gain strength. **Ichigo felt a hint of bloodlust radiate from Shiro before the hollow suppressed it.

_Forgive me if I'm wrong, but since when have hollows been able to perform kido?_

/_Ichigo's right, Shiro._/ Ichigo jumped as he heard Zangetsu join the conversation.

**Rather quick to pick up my name, aren't you? **Shiro grumbled.

Ichigo cut off Shiro before the hollow could get into a full-scale argument with his zanpakuto. _On Sundays we could head into the forest near the Academy and get a decent distance away before practicing zanjutsu, hakuda, and hoho, and later Cero and kido, at full strength. I know I certainly haven't mastered all of your powers, Zangetsu. And I'm having enough trouble holding the hollow transformation as it is, never mind mastering Cero and Bala._

**You've got sonido mastered, so you're not a complete novice when it comes to wielding the powers of a hollow. And, of course, you'd be learning from the best. We'd need to get a really long distance away from the Academy, though.**

/_That's a good idea, Ichigo. Like Shiro said, we'd need to head at least ten miles out. But we can't have your skills growing dull because you can't use all your strength and reiatsu._/

_Thanks for your input, Zangetsu._

Ichigo lay down and stared at the glittering stars. It was a good thing he was obscured from Rukia and Renji's house by trees, because just then, something in his yukata started to glow…

* * *

**A/N: I would like to thank amethyst ichigo for inspiring the entrance exam and the schedule… Also I did not know what Rukia's last name was before she was adopted by the Kuchikis, so I just used Inuzuri because it's where she's from.**

The third chapter's done! Yay! Any and all reviews are welcome. If you have any ideas _please_ tell me. I _will _update faster if you review so give me ideas! I would like to thank amethyst ichigo for inspiring the entrance exam and the schedule… It's inspired from the story Strange Candy...

Vote: Should Ichigo know why he's in the past and what's happening in the next chapter or should he be kept in the dark for a while longer?

1. I did not know Rukia's last name from before she was adopted by the Kuchkis, so I just used Abarai because it's where she's from.

2. Shundo is a combination of shunpo and sonido, making it the fastest type of flash step there is. Ichigo has it halfway mastered in his bankai.

3. I did my homework and looked up the name of the nameless Zanpakuto, which is asauchi.

4. The date in this story is July 25. Classes start in one week. Rukia, Renji, and Ichigo registered and took their exams kinda late, didn't they? But then again there were several other people there so... why not?

**Edit**: 4/1/10: Changed a few things; looks a WHOLE lot better… Reiryoku = spirit energy. Ichigo can't use shundo (shunpo x sonido) now and he beat Sentaro after five minutes, not ten seconds. Makes the story a lot more believable.

-HM


	4. Starting School

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Bleach.

Shiro: **Hi**

Ichigo's thoughts: _Hi_

Zangetsu: /_Hi_/

* * *

Chapter 4—Starting School

Urahara, Yoruichi, Chad, Orihime, Uryu, Rukia, Renji, and Tessai were gathered in the massive underground training room under the Urahara Shoten. Urahara had not recovered from his beating last week and was a sore mass of black and blue. Everyone stood around a small piece of metal that was placed on a flat rock in front of them. The rock had several kido marks on it.

"Is everyone ready?" Urahara asked.

"Hai."

"Then let's begin."

Everyone placed their hands on the kido circle in front of them and started to pump their reiatsu into it. After a few minutes, the flattest section on the metal in front of started to glow.

* * *

(the past)

_**Ichigo lay down and stared at the glittering stars. It was a good thing he was obscured from Rukia and Renji's house by trees, because just then, something in his yukata started to glow…**_

"What the hell?!" Ichigo spluttered.

Ichigo quickly reached into his yukata and drew out a familiar piece of metal. Ichigo gasped and dropped it in the grass; the flattest surface was face up. He wasn't in the mood to be transported to another time and place.

**King, that thing is flashing at us**, Shiro murmured.

The flattest surface flashed a few times, then went blank.

* * *

(Urahara Shoten)

"We lost the connection!" Urahara sighed. Everyone else groaned.

* * *

(the past)

Ichigo just sat there for a few moments, then spluttered, "What the hell just happened?!"

**I dunno, King. How would I know?**

Ichigo thought for a moment, then said aloud, "I'm going to throw this thing away. It's more trouble than it's worth." He turned to throw the hunk of metal into the nearby river.

/_Wait, Ichigo! Don't throw it away! That thing got us here, so maybe it can get us back!_/

After a few moments of silence, Ichigo replied grudgingly, _Fine, Zangetsu. I'll keep it._ He reluctantly tucked the metal into his pocket.

_If this is something Urahara made, I'm going to kill him when we get back._

**I'm looking forward to it.**

* * *

(Urahara Shoten)

"When's the next time we can try to contact Ichigo?" asked Rukia.

"The next full moon," Urahara managed to say. He had been pounded on by Yoruichi, Rukia, _and_ Renji. He wouldn't be surprised if he couldn't get out of bed the next morning.

"Is the rate of the movement of time different? Affected by your device, perhaps?" inquired Tessai, already planning to get his employer a cure for his bruises when everyone else left.

"Yes, Tessai. We'll be able to contact Ichigo in a month and bring him back in two months. Unfortunately, two months for us will be an entire year for him. When we attempt to contact him next month, he'll have spent six months in whenever-the-heck he is," Urahara answered. His voice was barely above a whisper. "You can all go home now."

Everyone turned to leave. Once everyone else was gone, Tessai said (with good intentions), "You know, boss, I have a remedy that will have those bruises and fractured rib gone by tomorrow morning."

"Ahh… Remedy?" Urahara wasn't liking the sound of this…

Tessai went upstairs, grabbed a bottle, and returned to his unmoving boss.

"Are you kidding?! Those are steroids! Gah! No! Get away! Witch doctor! Get away!" Urahara yelled. He scrambled away from Tessai with more speed than his injured frame suggested, ran up the ladder, tore into his room, and locked the door. He wasn't coming out anytime soon. He couldn't have even if he wanted to. He was so bruised he wouldn't have been able to get up for the next three days without healing himself.

* * *

(the past)

One week later…

Momo and Toshiro were saying their farewells (would you call it that?!) to each other…

"I'll see you later, Shiro-chan!"

"I told you, don't call me Shiro-chan!"

"When you finally come to Shinigami Academy, I'll use your real name!"

"Forget that! Why would I go to some stupid Shinigami school?!"

"I'll be living in the dorms from now on, but I'll visit you on my days off!"

"Thanks for the warning. Don't hurry, you bed-wetter!"

Izuru Kira stood in front of his family tombstone.

"I'd better be going…Father…Mother…"

_Rustle…Rustle…CKACK!!! Whump…_ Renji had just fallen out of a tree and onto the gravestone.

"Wha…Wha…What?!" Izuru stammered.

"Ugh… Can't breathe…" Renji groaned.

Rukia popped out of the nearby fallen branches and said, "What did I tell you, Renji? Never sleep in the top of a tree!! When you've recovered, help me look for Ichigo."

"Wh-What's going on?! Who are you people?!"

Rukia looked at him and stated, "It seems you're an Academy student as well. Let's go, Renji."

Rukia hauled a still-moaning Renji to his feet and ran off, leaving behind a bewildered Izuru.

10 minutes later…

"What were you thinking, sleeping on top of a roof, Ichigo?! We're going to be late!" Rukia yelled.

"I'll sleep wherever I want!" Ichigo retorted.

"Ugh, we should have just left you behind! It would have served you right!" Rukia hissed.

* * *

A voice on a loudspeaker boomed out a welcome to the new students.

"Welcome, new students, to the Shinigami Academy! You are now part of a proud tradition—a unique school dedicated to building the stealth forces and the 13 Court Guard Squads of the future. Apply yourselves diligently to your studies and uphold the honor of our school."

**Make the stupid guy stop**, moaned Shiro.

_Unfortunately, I can't do that, Shiro_, Ichigo replied as they were directed to the building where they would choose their extra courses.

Extra courses could be chosen and taken after the regular day. The modified schedules would be handed out to the students after their first class. A student didn't have to take any extra courses but they could take a maximum of 8 extra courses. The extra courses that could be taken were math, science, Soul Society history, reiatsu control, a physical fitness program, a zanpakuto meditation seminar, extra zanjutsu, extra hoho, extra hakuda, extra kido, healing, and a course that taught you how to use the four fighting arts together in battle called Practical Combat.

Ichigo chose reiatsu control, the zanpakuto meditation seminar (so he could talk in peace with Shiro and Zangetsu), extra zanjutsu, extra kido (Zangetsu made him take this one so Ichigo could be well rounded), extra hakuda, healing (Zangetsu made him take this class as well), and Practical Combat.

Renji chose the physical fitness program, reiatsu control, extra zanjutsu, extra hakuda, and Practical Combat.

Rukia chose Soul Society history, reiatsu control, the zanpakuto meditation seminar, extra kido, healing, and Practical Combat.

"Jeez, Ichigo, you really packed your schedule full," Renji said, looking at the classes Ichigo chose.

"Yeah, yeah whatever," Ichigo grumbled. He wasn't very happy with Zangetsu at the moment even though he had a valid point with kido and healing. Ichigo wasn't paying much attention to Renji.

"Since extra classes are taken by both the regular and advanced class, we might get some classes together," Rukia observed. "We're all doing the reiatsu control and Practical Combat. Ichigo and I both chose the zanpakuto meditation seminar, extra kido, and healing. Ichigo and Renji, you two chose extra zanjutsu and extra hakuda together. Renji and I didn't choose any classes together that Ichigo isn't taking."

"I can't believe you figured all that out in such a short time," Renji said, impressed.

"You'd be able to do that kind of stuff too if you had half the brain that I do," Rukia teased.

Renji was about to start yelling at Rukia when an announcement was made for the freshmen to go to the advanced class or the regular class rooms.

* * *

Advanced class…

"Good morning, freshmen! My name is Gengoro Ounabara. I am pleased to inform you that your exam scores were the highest. In other words, welcome to the advanced class. Congratulations! Of course, this means that expectations are higher for you, as well! You must train hard and strive to not only serve your future division, but to excel in each of your various pursues!" the teacher went on and on and on…

The advanced class seemed to be arranged from highest test scores to the lowest. Izuru was in the first spot on the first row, and Ichigo was in the fifth. Renji was near the middle of the room, and so was Momo.

_I guess only four people passed all five of the tests, since I have the highest reiatsu here,_ Ichigo realized.

**You'd be in spot number 1 if I let all of your reiatsu out.**

_Yeah, but Academy students aren't exactly supposed to have above-captain levels of reiatsu when they first enter._

**Point taken. But still, you should make them respect you!**

* * *

Regular Class…

"Just because you're not in the advanced class doesn't mean you have any less chance of excelling. In the end, what matters is hard work. If you train as hard as they do, you will eventually be better and more skilled than them," this teacher prattled on and on just as much as Ounabara…

Rukia wasn't paying much attention, though. She was wrapped up in her own thoughts.

_Stupid Renji… __**I**__ should be in the advanced class, not him! I'm not envious of Ichigo, though… His abilities far exceed my own… I heard he got the fifth highest score in his class!_

* * *

(Vizards)

Hiyori kicked Shinji. "WHERE'S THE DICKHEAD?!" she yelled.

Shinji clutched his aching ankle and retaliated, "I don't know! He probably went off to the Soul Society because last time I checked Ichigo's reiatsu disappeared at Urahara's about two days ago."

"Alright, then, you are coming with me to go to Urahara's and threaten him until he gives us the information we need," Hiyori retorted. She grabbed Shinji and flew out of a broken window towards the Urahara Shoten.

The rest of the Vizards watched this display with mild interest. Usually Hiyori wasn't this concerned about Ichigo. Kensei sighed and said, "I'll go follow them. Mashiro, you can come with me if you want."

Mashiro grinned, "I do, I do! I wanna know what happened to Berry-kun!" (1)

Kensei and Mashiro jumped out the window and followed Hiyori and Shinji.

* * *

Hiyori had noticed Kensei and Mashiro following them, so when she reached the Urahara Shoten, she waited outside for them. When Kensei and Mashiro arrived, the entire group headed in. Hiyori picked out Urahara's reiatsu and led them to Urahara's room. Jinta tried unsuccessfully to stop them. Hiyori knocked and said loudly, "Alright Urahara, we're coming in, so if you're doing anything embarrassing, stop now."

She tried to open the door and was angry to find it locked. So, she kicked a hole in said door to find Urahara in the process of healing himself. He glanced up and mumbled, "Oh, hello, Hiyori." and went back to his work.

"Spit it out, Urahara. Why has the strawberry dickhead's reiatsu vanished?" Hiyori demanded.

"Take a seat, Hiyori, Shinji, Kensei, Mashiro. This is a long story…" Urahara replied.

* * *

By the time the Vizards had left, Urahara had several new bruises and a fractured arm from Hiyori and Kensei.

* * *

1. Ichigo's name means "strawberry" as well as "one who protects", hence Mashiro's nickname for him.

I finished chapter 4! Yay, me! For those of you who gave your opinions, thank you... 3 people! And all three told me to keep Ichigo in the dark. Sorry this update took 3 days to put up instead of the usual 1 day... When I get back to school I'll be lucky to get a chapter a week in...

I'd once again like to thank amythest ichigo and Strange Candy... as well as Cecilius and A Second Chance for ideas on this fanfic!!!!!!!!

1. Ichigo's name means "strawberry" as well as "one who protects", hence Mashiro's nickname for him.

Also, for those of you who liked this story, please give my other fanfic, Leopard Stripes, a chance. I haven't been able to get many people to read it... And thanks to those of you who have! I'm dividing my time between this fanfic and Leopard Stripes.

-HM


	5. First Class

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Bleach.

Shiro: **Hi**

Ichigo's thoughts: _Hi_

Zangetsu: /_Hi_/

* * *

Just a note, I changed from hohou to hoho.

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry this took so long to write! I plead school, soccer games, homework, gymnastics, finals, etc. I have had no time at all to write!! Argh!!!!

So in apology I am posting omake at the end of the chapter!!!!!! Please forgive me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

* * *

Chapter 5—First Classes

Ichigo glanced at his schedule. It was a Monday… which meant his first class was hoho. Ichigo was glad his first class was hoho. He was good with shunpo, as well as sonido and shundo. Not to mention he had a splitting headache that had randomly appeared overnight, so Ichigo didn't want it to worsen through extreme embarrassment or the crashing of wooden swords/fists. At least he wouldn't embarrass himself during kido until the next day.

Ichigo walked into the large hoho building. It was one large room with a benches attached to all of the walls. Ichigo walked over to Renji, who was already warming up.

"Hey," Renji grunted as he struggled through pushups.

Ichigo shook his head and sighed, "Renji, warm up your leg muscles. You don't need to warm up your arms in this class. Use your head."

Renji muttered something unintelligible and tried (and failed miserably) to do the splits. Ichigo did a few warm-ups of his own then he sat on the bench as he waited for the hoho instructor to arrive. After about five minutes, the instructor walked in.

The instructor was a kind old man named Hotaka Hokkaido. He was lanky with incredible shunpo. The instructor taught them the basics of rudimentary shunpo (1) (which took about an hour) and took them into the courtyard to attempt to use it. The first thing Renji tried to do once they had gotten outside was attempt to imitate a more advanced shunpo Sensei had shown them… and ended up flat on his face. Ichigo smirked at Renji's ridiculous landing position. Trust Renji to attempt things far beyond his power level.

For the lesson, the students were playing a game called "Chase the Devil". Unfortunately, Ichigo was paired with Renji, much to their dismay. Renji had the worst shunpo in the class and wasn't in the mood to be shown up by Ichigo. Ichigo had been hoping to get a decent workout—with Sensei. (2)

After a little while Hokkaido had noticed Ichigo's boredom and obvious dominance over Renji, so he called out, "Kurosaki! Come be partners with me! Renji! Join up with Izuru and Momo for a threesome!"

All four involved looked surprised, but they followed the Sensei's orders without question. All except Renji, who was openly sulking. Izuru, Renji, and Momo immediately began to use comical flash steps in an attempt to catch one another. They had to stop, angle their feet to where they wanted to go, then gather up what spirit energy they had to make uncontrolled dashes at one another. They were barely faster than regular sprinting. Ichigo watched for about thirty seconds before snickering at them. He then turned to begin his own game with the Sensei.

Ichigo was tested to the limits with his Chase the Devil with the teacher. He had to twist his body in fantastic ways to avoid the teacher's extremely fast shunpo. Sensei didn't tap lightly, either. He literally hit Ichigo whenever he had the chance.

_If I could do this even once a month my hoho will improve profoundly_, Ichigo thought as he received yet another bruise. (3)

After about an hour, Sensei called to his students it was time to stop and take a break. All the students immediately collapsed where they stood. Ichigo included.

After ten minutes' break, Sensei made them do exercises to improve flexibility and stamina. Ichigo didn't mind since they were fairly easy for him. Renji's mood worsened as he began to do torturous exercises he thought were pointless and strained his muscles to their limits.

Meanwhile, Hokkaido was contemplating Ichigo's extraordinary performance. It had been almost 120 years since he had been evenly matched with a freshman. Said freshman was doing difficult exercises flawlessly, exercises seventh year students were still struggling with. Hokkaido contemplated the possibilities, then began changing his plans for the next lesson.

After about fifty minutes of torturing the freshmen, Hokkaido commanded, "Stop. That's enough. Relax. I'll call you back in a little while."

Several groaning students stood up and began hobbling into the shade. Once in said shade, they would promptly collapse to give their aching bodies a rest.

Hokkaido called the freshmen back after five minutes. The students dragged themselves, moaning in pain, back to Hokkaido. Ichigo was the only one who wasn't limping or in pain.

"We're going to practice more shunpo now." Everyone except Ichigo groaned. "We're going to do a tag-team Chase the Devil until the end of class. I've chosen the best freshman in the class-" Apprehensive murmurs broke out among the students. "-to be alone while all the rest of you will team up against him. You will attempt to tag him while he attempts to tag all of you. If he tags all of you, or if one of you tags him, the game is over. Ichigo Kurosaki, come here!"

Impressed whispering swept through the assembled students. Ichigo shrugged indifferently and stood by the Sensei. Renji, meanwhile, was barely managing to contain his rage.

"Good luck to all of you. Begin!"

Ichigo knew they had approximately 55 minutes until the end of class. He decided to drag the training session out as long as he could so he wouldn't appear too much like a prodigy (although he had already made himself to be abnormal when he had sparred with Sensei). He had done a head count at the beginning of class and there were roughly fifty students total.

_So about a student per minute,_ Ichigo mused while dodging ten students who charged at him all at once. _I'll go for those with the worst hoho first. I've already proven myself to be abnormally talented, even if Shiro is suppressing my reiatsu._

Half an hour later, Ichigo had already tagged 33 students. Hokkaido was regarding Ichigo with interest while Renji was openly glaring at him from the sidelines.

Ichigo ended the exercise ten minutes early to allow the other freshmen time to recover before their next class. All the students were panting heavily. Ichigo had just run in circles around the students the entire time and wasn't out of breath at all. He _was_ a master of shunpo, since he _had_ been taught personally by "Flash Master" Yoruichi. But the other freshmen didn't need to know that. While the freshmen were recovering, Hokkaido approached Ichigo, who was sitting in a tree.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Hokkaido asked. He glanced around at the exhausted freshmen and added, "In private?"

Ichigo nodded, jumped from the tree, and followed Sensei to a more distant grove of trees, far enough to not be overheard, but close enough so that Sensei could keep an eye on the freshmen.

"So, what did you want?" Ichigo inquired warily.

"You did excellent in class today and I just want to ask you a few questions, that's all."

"…Fine. So, what do you want to know?"

"Where and from whom did you learn shunpo? I haven't seen a freshman use shunpo like that in over a century," Hokkaido was intent on learning the freshman's origins.

Ichigo fidgeted nervously.

_What do I say? I can't just blurt out I'm from another time and I learned shunpo from Yoruichi._

/_Ichigo, pretend to be a regular konpaku that lived in one of the better districts, like the 43__rd__ or the 27__th__. Be imaginative, but please attempt to make it realistic._/

_Thanks, Zangetsu._

Ichigo then hastily replied, "I had a Shinigami friend who patrolled where I lived. She taught me some zanjutsu and hoho."

Hokkaido frowned. He had sensed Ichigo's hesitation but continued his interrogation. "Where did you live?"

"South Rukongai, District 31," Ichigo promptly replied. _Now I have to hope Sensei won't look in my file to find I entered from District 78…_

"How long have you been living here?" Hokkaido pressed.

_I can never tell how old people are here. Is growth stunted in the Soul Society? Rukia and Toshiro are prime examples of people who don't look their age._

Ichigo paused, then answered, "I dunno, maybe 50 or 60 years? I haven't kept count!" Ichigo held his breath, hoping he had said the right thing.

"One more question. Who taught you?" Hokkaido queried. He wasn't the least bit suspicious with Ichigo's last answer. Souls usually do not keep track of time in the Soul Society, and physical appearances give no clue as to a soul's age.

Ichigo blurted out the first female officer that came to mind that wasn't a captain, lieutenant, or Rukia.

"Mihane Shirogane."

Mihane Shirogane was the 9th seat of the 6th division. At least, in the present. She had a decent shunpo. Ichigo hoped she had graduated from the Shinigami Academy already.

Hokkaido narrowed his eyes and said, "She graduated from here not too long ago. I remember her because she had magnificent shunpo. But I didn't know she was doing solitary patrols already." Hokkaido paused, then murmured, "You may go."

Ichigo sighed with relief and ran back to the other students. Hokkaido watched him go with suspicious eyes. Kurosaki was hiding something, and he wanted to know what.

Hokkaido was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice Momo approaching him shyly.

"Um, Sensei, can we go now?" she asked nervously.

Hokkaido jumped, then answered breathlessly, "Yes, yes, Hinamori-san." He raised his voice so the entire class could hear, "You may all go."

Momo blushed and said, "Thank you, sir."

Meanwhile, Ichigo was trying to talk to an unresponsive Renji.

"Hellooooo? Is anyone there? Renji, will you talk to me?" Ichigo inquired while waving his hands in front of Renji's face. He had noticed Renji's terrible attitude during class and was hoping it had abated.

Renji gave Ichigo a glare and turned away.

_Apparently_ _his bad mood isn't gone_, Ichigo sighed inwardly. Aloud he growled, "What is your problem? You've been in a bad mood since the beginning of class. Why are you so angry?"

Renji whirled around and hissed, "You're my problem! Why didn't you TELL me you tell me you were that freaking good?! I knew you were ok with hakuda when you defeated those thugs back in Rukongai, but this is ridiculous!!! How can you be so good at things that are so impossible to master?!!"

He stalked away, muttering curses to himself.

_Looks like someone's jealous_, Ichigo thought. He wasn't all that surprised with Renji's behavior. _Speaking of jealous, angry people… Zangetsu, where's Shiro? He hasn't said a thing since the day started._

/_I forced him to hide. There are some very talented reiatsu readers here at the Academy, one of them being Hokkaido. They would have noticed Shiro's presence instantly. As soon as we go to lunch, he will most likely begin to yell at you._/

_Oh, joy_, Ichigo growled.

* * *

(Vizards)

Hiyori, Shinji, Kensei, and Mashiro flew back to their hideout. Hiyori was in a terrible mood, Kensei wanted to kill something, Shinji was pensive and had a killer headache that had come from nowhere, and Mashiro was quieter than usual. When they told the other Vizards what had happened, several of them went downstairs to destroy some of the boulders as a way of releasing pent-up anger. Mashiro had finally broken down and was crying, and even Hachi was in an irritable mood (for him, that is). Once everyone had calmed down (which took a long time), Shinji called a meeting to discuss their plan of action.

"I say we beat the crap out of Urahara for doing that to Ichigo," Hiyori grumbled. She was still wanted to kill Urahara and her bad temper hadn't improved much over the last… about… ten hours.

"Now, now, Hiyori, if we beat the crap out of Urahara, Ichigo won't be able to come back," Shinji snapped. There were a few grumbles, most noticeably from Hiyori and Kensei, but no one voiced their objection.

"I say we wait for Urahara to get Ichigo back. After all, we have to put _some_ trust in him," Lisa suggested. She hadn't forgotten the enormous debt the Vizards owed Urahara.

"Are you kidding?! We can't just sit here and wait for who-knows-how-long while Aizen gains strength! What if Ichigo doesn't return in time for the Winter War?" Hiyori yelled. The two girls glared at each other and probably would have started a cat fight when Hachi quietly interrupted them…

Hachi laid out his plan of what he thought the Vizards should do. After a brief silence, Kensei sighed, "Well, it's got tons of risks. But I like your theory, Hachi."

One by one the Vizards agreed to try Hachi's ingenious idea. Only Shinji was silent.

* * *

(the past)

Ichigo was in the lunchroom, attempting to not show any signs of the annoyance he was feeling.

**King let me out! I'm going to crush all the reiatsu sensors here so I won't have to hide like that again! Letmeoutletmeoutletmeout!!!! **Shiro was on a rampage. As predicted.

It was amazing how quickly Ichigo was adapting to having an extra voice in his head. Due to the violent, loud, rude nature of the voice, it was a wonder Ichigo hadn't gone mad. Yet.

_Shut up! You're making my headache worse!_

**Make me!**

_Zangetsu, can you knock him out? Or do something to make him shut up!_

**I HEARD THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

Ichigo ignored Shiro and asked, _Zangetsu, is it really __**that**__ bad to be hiding in there?_

**STOP IGNORING ME!!!! AND YES, IT IS **_**THAT**_** BAD TO HIDE IN HERE!!!**

*_Whonk_* _/Neither Shiro nor I enjoy hiding in your inner world, Ichigo. It's akin to being locked away in a cell._/

After a few seconds, Ichigo realized Shiro wasn't screaming.

_Uh, Zangetsu? Did you actually knock Shiro out?_

/_I didn't knock Shiro out. I simply tripped him and he crashed face first into the side of one of these buildings. Very forcefully._/ If Ichigo didn't know Zangetsu better, he would have sworn he heard mischief in the zanpakuto's voice.

_You would actually do that?_ Ichigo was dumbfounded his normally docile zanpakuto would do something like that.

/_It was for his own good. One needs to rest after being in hiding for so long._/

_Ok… _Ichigo replied doubtfully. After a moment Ichigo wondered, _Does my next class… umm… zanjutsu, I think… does it have a talented reiatsu-sensor in it?_

/_No._/

Ichigo was relieved and finished his lunch in peace. He was thoroughly enjoying the relative silence.

As he neared the zanjutsu building, however, his peace was shattered and his mood took a turn for the worse. He knew he would crush the other students and make himself stand out again. Toning down his strength just wasn't his style. His migraine also came back, because at that particular moment, Shiro woke up.

* * *

Ichigo & Co. meet HM (Omake!!!)

Ichigo, younger Renji, younger Rukia, younger Shuhei, younger Izuru, and younger Momo all walk into a square white room.

"Where are we?" the younger Momo asks, dazed.

"Uh, and why is there a sign above the door where we entered, and why does it read 'past'?" the younger Shuhei wonders. "And why is there another door across from here that has a sign that reads 'present'?"

Meanwhile, Ichigo's gaze is lingering on another sign over another door that Shuhei has not yet seen.

_This spells trouble…_ he thought.

Suddenly, the door labeled 'present' opens and Kisuke Urahara walks into the room. He looks around the room and widens his eyes when he sees the sign labeled 'past' above the younger Shinigami. He grins and paces around humming. Ichigo takes this as a bad sign because when Urahara is happy, someone else is usually very sad.

The door labeled 'present' opens again and older Renji, older Rukia, older Shuhei, older Izuru, older Momo, Yoruichi, Orihime, Chad, Uryu, Isshin, and the Vizards walk in. Everyone who has a younger/older counterpart starts staring with wide eyes while Urahara and Ichigo start snickering. The Renjis stare confusedly at each other. The Rukias are staring at each other with open mouths. The Shuheis anime fall. The Izurus are pointing at each other. The Momos are wide eyed and unexpectedly break down crying. And everyone else except Urahara and Ichigo simply sweatdrops. Urahara is laughing his head off.

The Vizards eventually notice Ichigo. They all move to crowd around him and welcome him back but Hiyori approaches Ichigo with one of her sandals in her hand.

"STRAWBERRY DICKHEAD! WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!!!" Hiyori roars while slapping Ichigo multiple times with her sandal. The other Vizards sweatdrop.

"It's good to see you again, Ichigo. Hiyori was worried sick about you," Shinji whispers, grinning.

Unfortunately for Shinji, Hiyori overhears this statement.

"I WAS NOT WORRIED ABOUT THE STRAWBERRY DICKHEAD, DICKHEAD!!!" Hiyori roars. She turns and beats the crap out of Shinji. Urahara meanwhile is on the floor laughing like a maniac. Younger Renji and older Shuhei both inch away from this display. Ichigo is snickering at the two Rukias. They are lying on the floor, shellshocked. Surprisingly, Isshin has not yet attacked Ichigo.

Suddenly, the third door opens. Urahara and Ichigo abruptly stop snickering, which worries everyone. Everyone looks warily at the new arrival…

"Why, hello there, everyone one, and welcome!" A cute thirteen year old girl walks into the room. Everyone except Urahara and Ichigo sigh with relief. They had been expecting Aizen (for the older counterparts) or Yamamoto (for the younger counterparts).

"Who are you?" asks the older Momo. Both Momos had taken a liking to the newcomer before them.

The girl smiles sweetly and replies, "My name is Hollow Mashiro! And I brought you all here!"

Everyone (especially the real Mashiro) looks surprised at this while Ichigo and Urahara groan loudly. Which everyone else ignores.

"How did you bring us here?" asks older Renji confusedly.

"Oh, I simply manipulated time and space with one of my handmade machines then created this room that can connect different times and places and I summoned you here with another one of my inventions which draws you to me like a fish on a hook," HM says, letting out a little breath after her speech. Only Urahara and Ichigo caught the entire thing and were silently freaking out at the "fish on a hook" analogy.

"Well then, let's get started, shall we?" HM says in a cutesy voice. Both Urahara and Ichigo make mad dashes for their exits. HM reveals her evil side by snickering and pressing a button, causing all three doors to disappear. Urahara and Ichigo collapse onto the walls where the doors once were, sobbing.

Isshin and older Rukia begin to unexpectedly beat the crap out of Urahara and Ichigo. They are still oblivious to the fact HM is evilly grinning. Some of the smarter Shinigami, humans, and Vizards gathered are beginning to suspect HM is not what she seems. They include both of the Shuheis, Yoruichi, Uryu, Shinji, and Hachi.

Without warning, another door appears and Tite Kubo walks in. The door just as quickly vanishes. Everyone is startled by Kubo's sudden appearance, then make mad dashes to find any conceivable exit, not caring if they trample one another in their attempt to get away from the person who created them. Tite Kubo just smiles wickedly and says, "The events that are occurring to you are the effects of HM. Not me. Have fun!" The door reappears on the ceiling and Tite Kubo jumps through it. Everyone stares at each other, then at HM, who is smirking wickedly. Everyone screams, and all hell breaks loose.

Both Momos huddle in a corner, crying. Younger Renji has been run over and older Renji is beating the crap out of anyone who decides to come too close. The Shuheis and Uryu have drawn their swords and bow and are trying to destroy the room. Not the brightest idea, since the room is in the middle of a wormhole. Older Rukia has started to beat Hiyori over the head with a coconut that had appeared in her hand while Hiyori attempts to beat her assailant with the big stick that had appeared in her hand. Younger Rukia has been run over as well and is lying motionless near Renji. Shinji and Kensei are wildly charging at each other in unsuccessful attempts to knock each other out. Love, the real Mashiro, Rose, Lisa, Hachi, Chad, Orihime, both Izurus, and Isshin are running around screaming bloody murder. Yoruichi is still beating the crap out of Urahara. Ichigo is huddled against a wall eating a banana that had materialized in his hand and trying to stay away from the melee that was unfolding in front of him.

HM is snickering at everyone's ridiculous predicaments, but soon she grows tired of watching the brawl in front of her.

_Time to shake things up_, she thinks maniacally.

Another door appears, this time to the right of HM. Everyone stops what they're doing and starts to rush at the door but they soon turn around, screaming bloody murder because 10 Adjuchas, 5 Vasto Lorde, Grimmjow Jeagerjaques, and Nel (in her adult form) enter the already cramped room. Eventually HM calls them all back and surveys the mess the Hollows have left behind.

Everyone except Ichigo is bruised and cut in some way. Several people have broken bones, including all the younger/older counterparts. Everyone lies on the floor, moaning, except Ichigo. He is still yelling because Nel is latched onto him and will not let go, even though she has taken all of the damage directed at Ichigo. HM smirks at Ichigo's beet red face, then calls Nel back to Hueco Mundo. Ichigo collapses, panting.

HM savors their plight for a few moments, then heals most of everyone's wounds. Urahara hasn't been healed at all, and Ichigo, Shinji, and Yoruichi have splitting headaches.

"Alright. Do one more thing and you can all go home," HM smirks. Everyone looks at each other worryingly. "It's simple. All you have to do is beat the crap out of Urahara."

Urahara turns a pasty shade of white at this and begins to sprint away, once again screaming bloody murder, Hanataro style. Everyone desperately chases after him. They eventually catch up to him and then proceed to pound on him with the coconuts, sticks, and clubs that had appeared in their hands. After ten minutes of solid beating, HM says, "That's enough." She then creates the 'present' and 'past' doors for everyone to go home. Everyone rushes through their respective doors. Ichigo attempts to go through the 'present' door but is stopped by the whip that has appeared in HM's hand. He scurries through the 'past' door.

HM then steps towards the groaning lump that used to be Urahara.

"One… question… Why… me?..." Urahara manages to wheeze.

HM smirks nastily and replies, " 'Cuz you're fun to pick on." She knocks him unconscious, then heals him and chucks him through the 'present' door. She then makes her the door to her own universe and strides confidently out of the room.

* * *

Ok, I had WAY too much fun writing that. If you enjoyed that then review and cast your vote, yes or no, if you want more of that. I'll only be able to do it every few chapters, though…

If you write anonymous reviews with questions in them I WILL answer them in this fanfic. Same goes for Leopard Stripes.

I'm not giving you any hints as to what happened to Ichigo! You'll find out when Ichigo finds out. End of story.

I kinda messed with Zangetsu's personality a little bit. Sorry about that. Hopefully it won't happen again.

**mahagany**: Don't worry about me sending Ichigo back to the future (love that phrase!). There will be LOTS (and lots and lots and lots and…) of complications *evil snicker*.

1. My understanding of shunpo/sonido/shundo is this: One uses a unique combination of complicated footwork and reiatsu to propel oneself forward at a frighteningly fast pace.

2. Chase the Devil is another name for tag.

3. Hoho can improve just like kido, zanjutsu, and hakuda. What Ichigo really needs to learn are the techniques created by Yoruichi like the Shunpo Step Technique 3: Molting Cicada (this is from episode 196).

-HM


	6. Suspicions and Zanjutsu

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Bleach.

Shiro: **Hi**

Ichigo's thoughts: _Hi_

Zangetsu: /_Hi_/

* * *

**HM**: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

**Sil**: Hey! We have a multi-religious audience here!

**HM**: Ok… Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanza… umm… are there any other holidays that are celebrated around this time?...

**Sil**: Wow. How much more of a baka (idiot) can you get?

**HM**: QUIET!!! *sounds of scuffling* *HM and Sil finally reemerge, both sporting various new bruises*

**HM and Sil**: _**HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

* * *

**_

Chapter 6—Suspicions and Zanjutsu

Hokkaido strode purposefully through the halls of the entrance building. He was determined to find out what was so special about Ichigo Kurosaki. The way he had acted when Hokkaido had questioned him about his past made Hokkaido sure Kurosaki was hiding something. And he wanted to know what. He strode into the secretary's office, disturbing her from her work.

"Ah, hello, Hokkaido-san. What brings you here?" the secretary asked. She was a middle-aged Shinigami with brown hair and glasses, the typical image of a secretary.

"I was wondering if I could borrow the files on one Ichigo Kurosaki, please."

"Of course. It won't be complete, though, since this is Kurosaki's first week." The secretary handed Hokkaido the file. The files noted the strengths and weaknesses of a student, and they would be updated after the first week, the first month, the sixth month, the first year, and all years after that. They all contained information about a student's origins, like which district they came from, if they were a noble, how long they had been in the Soul Society, etc. They also contained reports of how well a student did on the entrance exam.

Hokkaido murmured, "Thank you" and walked away, holding the file in his arms. He barely heard the secretary yell at him to return the file the next day.

* * *

Hokkaido slumped into his seat in his room. It was a medium-sized room, with a bed, an armoire, and a large desk. There was a small bathroom connected to his room for convenience. He was, after all, a teacher. The students had to use dorm bathrooms.

Hokkaido flipped open the file on Kurosaki and began reading.

_He said he's from South Rukongai, that much is true. But he's from the 78th district, not the 31st. And his spiritual pressure!! It's at the level of a lieutenant's!! And he hasn't even unlocked his zanpakuto yet!!!! Only nobles have reiatsu like that. And I was lying about Shirogane… She __**did**__ graduate from here not too long ago, but she had terrible shunpo. She barely improved over the seven years she was here…And his reiatsu signature… I can't read it at all…It's as if something's blocking Kurosaki's signature from being read… But that's impossible!!!!!_

Hokkaido continued to read the small amount of information in the file. As he was reading the section that described Ichigo's entrance exam, his eyes widened and Hokkaido nearly fell over.

_What the hell… He defeated a fourth-seat officer in zanjutsu in only five minutes!!!!_

Hokkaido closed the incomplete file, pondering Kurosaki's unique reiatsu signature, his incredible skill in zanjutsu, hakuda, and hoho, and why he would want to hide his past.

* * *

Ichigo sneezed and looked around, confused. Did he have a cold?

He was in the zanjutsu building, warming up for the day's sparring. His headache had finally abated, thanks to yelling various curses at his hollow. It was his own way of getting rid of excess anger. For some strange reason, Shiro had shut up afterwards.

The zanjutsu building was a huge gym-like structure, with wooden bleachers on the sides of the large enclosure. A wide range of wooden swords and asauchi were hanging on the walls, some of them very obviously about to fall apart.

Some of the other students had already grouped up into pairs and were play-sparring. By watching them, Ichigo deducted they were all beginners… and very easy to defeat, although there were a few students he saw that were clearly better than the other freshmen. The zanjutsu instructor soon walked in. He was a fairly large man with lean muscles.

"Alright! Class, listen up! My name is Takeshi Ikoto, and I'm the zanjutsu instructor! In this class, I don't expect brains from you, I expect hard work and improvement. I won't…" Ikoto talked for about an hour about the basics of zanjutsu (stances, thrusts, parries, etc.) and how he was there only to teach the basics of zanjutsu. He wouldn't teach them how to reach true captain's fighting level and… even though his strong voice demanded attention, it soon became a buzz in the background.

**I'm getting a headache! Make him stop!! He's so ANNOYING!!!! Is he really a zanjutsu teacher?!** Shiro moaned.

_I can't believe I'm agreeing with Shiro, but this is getting ridiculous. The guy is a zanjutsu teacher, but he sure knows how to make long, boring speeches! It looks like… Ikoto?… doesn't look too happy either, so I'm guessing this speech is mandatory._

Finally Ikoto directed them to the wall to pick out wooden swords. Ichigo once again chose the katana most similar to his bankai. He had been paired with a girl named Kaede Kuromizu. She was one of the best freshmen in the class. They sparred for a few minutes, Ichigo doing his best to tone down his strength. Ikoto wasn't an idiot, however, and he could see Ichigo was playing with Kaede immediately.

After finishing the exercise, Ikoto let the students get water and recover before the next exercise. Several of the students were sweating like pigs. After all the freshmen had finally gathered again, Ikoto gave them instructions for the next exercise. The students would be and sparring one-on-one while the rest of the class watched from the bleachers.

Most of the class had already gone by the time it was Ichigo's turn. He was paired with Kaede again. Before Ichigo could start though, Ikoto pulled him over and murmured, "I know you're not going all out, Kurosaki-san. I want you to go all out on Kaede-san."

_Great…_ Ichigo moaned. _I can't fake it…_

**Yeah, it IS great, King! Since he wants you to go all out, let ME fight her!** Shiro laughed lightheartedly.

_No way, you idiot._

**WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!**

"Begin!" Ikoto called, cutting through Ichigo's inner bickering. Kaede attacked immediately, not wanting to give Ichigo an advantage. Her katana was easily blocked.

_If he wants all out, fine, I'll GIVE him all out_, Ichigo mentally snarled.

He stepped around Kaede's guard, knocked her wooden katana out of her hands, and placed his katana at her throat. It was basically the same technique he had used against Sentaro.

Everyone sat stunned for a few moments before Ikoto managed to weakly call out, "Winner: Kurosaki." He went to sit down on the bleachers, not caring that the eyes of the entire class and Sensei were on him.

_So much for trying not to stand out_, Ichigo grumbled.

After Ikoto finished with the rest of the class, he began to go through the roster again. This time Kaede was paired with a scrawny kid who was terrible at zanjutsu. She won easily. Ichigo was paired with a large man who didn't last five seconds against the undercover Vizard.

Near the end of class, Ikoto called Ichigo over to spar with him. Every single freshman in the room was utterly shocked, Ichigo especially so.

"But, sensei!" Kaede protested. She didn't want Sensei to spar with Ichigo, that much was certain. Ikoto just waved her away and settled into his ready position.

_Great. More jealous freshmen._

"Are you ready, Kurosaki-san?"

"Hai." Ichigo got into a defensive stance, bracing himself for Ikoto's attack.

Ikoto struck hard and fast, and forced Ichigo to his limits, just like Hokkaido had. Ichigo's world became a blur of wood and Academy uniforms, his mind responding only to simple action and reaction. The other students watched with disbelief while Ikoto and Ichigo sparred. Kaede's simmering jealousy wasn't helped as she watched Ichigo spar on equal footing with the Sensei, and she made a mental note to talk to him after class.

Ultimately, Ikoto defeated Ichigo when he finally managed to twist the wooden katana out of Ichigo's hands. Most of the other students applauded enthusiastically, but others sulked at Ichigo's obvious skill, including Kaede.

"Very good, Kurosaki-san!" Ikoto grinned.

"Thank you, Sensei," Ichigo replied tonelessly.

_Now I've really made myself to be abnormal. Dammit!_

It was time to go by the time the match had ended. Ichigo strode out quickly, not wanting to be caught by the other awed freshmen. He managed to get halfway back to his dorm room when Kaede caught him.

"Oh, you're that girl I sparred today… umm… Kaede, right?"

"Yeah. Kaede Kuromizu. And how the hell did you get so good at zanjutsu?" Kaede asked roughly.

"I'd rather not talk about it," Ichigo growled. He turned to approach his dorm room but was stopped when Kaede stepped in front of him and grabbed his shoulder.

"Answer my question," Kaede growled.

"I did! Now let me go!! Is it a habit to be this violent to people you just met?!" Ichigo hissed back.

Before Kaede could answer he shunpoed away from her, leaving a bewildered Kaede staring at the spot Ichigo had been seconds before.

_What is with all the jealous freshmen? It's getting really annoying!!_

**Really annoying? What an understatement.**

Ichigo arrived at his dorm room. It was a small room, with brown floors and walls. There was a small bed set up against the wall and a dresser filled with Academy robes. A diminutive desk with a lamp was set in a corner. _Probably for doing written homework for classes like science and math_, Ichigo mused. A tiny window covered with coarse brown cloth was located on the north wall. The dorm bathroom was near his room. _I feel sorry for Rukia. Her room in the girl's dorm is on the top floor, and her dorm bathroom all the way down the hall._

Ichigo's inspection of the room was cut short by Shiro's loud commentary. **Well, isn't this such a nice little room.**

Ichigo mentally raised an eyebrow at Shiro. The sarcasm dripping from the hollow's voice was obviously unconcealed.

**Oh, if this room's nice, I'm a human. Though it may be livable in, it's not the type of quarters I want.**

_This is the student dorm. It's not going to have the greatest comfort accommodations. Let's just be grateful that we don't have to share, like in the world of the living._

**I was being sarcastic, idiot.**

_I know._

**But I stand by my previous statement. I don't want to be here. I want to be back in the future. Home. I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation.**

…_Huh?_

/_Who knows how the time will shift when we do manage to get back to the present? What if Aizen's already begun his assault? What if he's already won by the time we get back? What if we don't get back at all?_/

…

**Exactly my point. Now, WILL YOU PLEASE START TO FOCUS ON FIGURING OUT HOW TO GET BACK HOME?** Shiro's loud voice cut through Ichigo's pleasant thoughts.

_Just shut up and let me sleep. Currently I won't be able to do much since sleepiness is clouding my thoughts._

Ichigo flopped onto the bed without changing and fell asleep, letting his current worries wash away. His last coherent thought was: _How will I ever get back?

* * *

_

"Hi there, Hotaka-kun! How are ya doing?" Ikoto's loud voice broke through Hokkaido's musings. He had been trudging back to the secretary's office to return Kurosaki's file.

"Just fine, Takeshi-san," Hokkaido replied tonelessly. He was still halfway lost in his thoughts.

"Uh-uh." Ikoto shook his head, grinning and waggling his finger. "You know better than to lie to me, Hotaka-kun!"

Hokkaido sighed in exasperation, then replied, "Let's take this somewhere private; I don't want any eavesdroppers to listen in on our conversation." He glanced down the hallway where a frustrated Kaede was trying to listen in.

After returning the file to the flustered secretary, Hokkaido and Ikoto strode down the hall and entered Hokkaido's room for a safeguard against eavesdroppers.

"So, what is it?" Ikoto asked. "The freshmen doing worse than usual?"

"No, no, just the opposite. Ichigo Kurosaki is too good to be just entering the Academy. He must have had previous training from somewhere. Why else would he—"

"Whoa, slow down! Start at the beginning! You have a bad habit of blurting whatever's on your mind," Ikoto sighed.

"Kurosaki-san flawlessly completed a tag-team Chase the Devil. We're talking about one student against about fifty others," Hokkaido began.

Ikoto narrowed his eyes. "He did exceptionally well in my zanjutsu class, too. He sparred with me equally for fifteen minutes before I finally managed to defeat him!"

"That doesn't surprise me."

"It doesn't?"

"No. In his entrance exam, he defeated the fourth seat of the 13th Division, Sentaro Kotsubaki, in only five minutes."

Ikoto choked on air and began hacking. Hokkaido calmly waited for the zanjutsu instructor to regain his breath.

"Y-you're kidding, right?" Ikoto spluttered.

"Nope."

"How did he do on the rest of the exam? And why was he sparring with Kotsubaki-san, anyway?"

"He knew an abnormal amount in the knowledge portion of the test. He was equal with Kotsubaki-san in hakuda and could keep up with some of the more advanced shunpo. The only thing Kurosaki seems to be bad at is kido. Bakudo number one blew up in Kohaku's face, knocking him out, which was why Kurosaki was sparring with Kotsubaki-san."

Ikoto mulled over the new information in his head, then asked, chuckling, "Is bakudo number one even able to blow up?"

"Apparently, since it's what knocked Kohaku out. But what's more upsetting is that Kurosaki isn't willing to part with any information about his past. He lied about where he came from. He lied about his sensei. He is obviously hiding something, and I want to know what."

Ikoto scratched his head. "That's troublesome."

The two men discussed what Kurosaki could possibly be hiding from them, then parted for the night after agreeing to keep a close watch on Kurosaki. Elsewhere, a certain freshman woke from his rest with a start and a loud sneeze.

_Do I have a cold?_ he wondered while his inner hollow just chuckled.

* * *

(Vizards)

"How close are we to finishing it?" Hiyori asked impatiently.

"Not close at all. We're still missing more than half of the components." Hachi replied.

"Dammit!"

* * *

Sil is my writing partner in "What Emails Can Do To You".

Suspicious teachers!!! Uh oh…

I did put an OC in there. She was needed, and if I recall correctly Renji, Momo, and Izuru are all in the same zanjutsu class… which Ichigo isn't in.

I'm not telling you what the Vizards are planning, either! Deal with it.

Once again, any (including anonymous) reviews are VERY welcome!

And once again, do you want the omake at the beginning of chapter 5 to be continued? Answer via review.

-HM


	7. Inner Conversation

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Bleach.

Shiro: **Hi**

Ichigo's thoughts: _Hi_

Zangetsu: /_Hi_/

* * *

Chapter 7—Inner Conversation

Ichigo ate his breakfast distractedly, not really noticing anything that was going on around him. He was dead tired because he had had another nightmare the previous night. Ichigo couldn't remember all the details, but it had something to do with hollows, Aizen, and the TV show Survivor. Ichigo sighed before methodically lifting his chopsticks to his mouth again.

_**THWACK!!!**_

Ichigo choked on his rice. It took him a full minute before he was able to speak again. "What the hell was that for, midget?!?!" Rukia had hit Ichigo on the head with her tray. Hard.

"This is the Shinigami Academy!! Get up and look lively!!" Rukia shouted back. "AND I'M NOT A MIDGET, STRAWBERRY!!!!!!!!"

"RUNT!!!"

"BERRY HEAD!!!!!!"

"BIT—"

"**SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"**

"Thank you for quelling this morning's disturbance, Abarai-san," Hokkaido said quietly, walking past Renji. He glared at Ichigo before settling down to eat at the faculty table.

Ichigo sat back down, muttering miscellaneous swear words.

_What a way to start the day. And I have kido today… I hate kido…_

He started stabbing at his food mindlessly. Since he was now wide awake, he noticed that the food tasted horribly bland.

_Ugh… Just like the crap they serve to us at Karakura High… No matter where you go, school food is always the same…_

* * *

On another note, Shiro was barely controlling his urges to fall into a fit of maniacal laughter at Ichigo's depressed thoughts.

* * *

Rukia, meanwhile, was scarfing down her breakfast as fast as she could. She wanted to put as much distance between herself and her foul-tempered friend as possible. Once she finished, she hurried away to her hoho class.

"Nice way to start the morning," Renji remarked sarcastically as he watched Rukia hurry away.

"Shut up and leave me alone," Ichigo grumbled.

Renji sighed helplessly before going back to his meal. Though Ichigo was extremely irritable at the moment, he was grateful that Renji's bad mood had abated. The two boys finished their breakfasts in silence before heading to their next classes. Renji had zanjutsu and Ichigo had hakuda.

_I'm glad I have hakuda first. I studied it when I was alive, so I have an excuse when I beat the crap out of everyone. Then again, maybe I should try and tone it down a little so I don't appear to be really abnormal. Again._

**You're pathetic. Just beat the crap out of the freshmen like you always do.**

_Since I'm good enough to make it into the Squads already, they might just graduate me immediately, which would go against our original plans of learning kido. And Cero._

"**Good enough to make it into the Squads"?! You're good enough to be a **_**captain**_**, if ya hadn't noticed. And isn't it Shinigami protocol to make all Shinigami-in-training stay in the Shinigami Academy for at least a year before entering a Division?**

_Whatever. But you're missing the point, Shiro. We want to stay here so I can learn kido and get better at… basically everything. That's why it's called an __**Academy**__, _Ichigo snapped back irritably.

**We do NOT want to stay here, stupid. We want to get back to our own time, where Renji and Rukia aren't annoying brats and there are plenty of good fights to be had with the Arrancar.**

_Yeah, but we can't do anything about our situation right now, so just shut up and let me concentrate on my hakuda. And try to see the silver lining in the black cloud._

**Silver lining? Black cloud? What the hell are you talking about, King?**

/_He means, "Be optimistic". And make sure to mask Ichigo's reiatsu._/

**Yeah, yeah, whatev- HEY!! KING!!! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING, IDIOT!!!**

Ichigo had been so caught up the conversation that he had almost plowed right into the hakuda building's doors. The hakuda building was a lot smaller than the hoho and zanjutsu buildings, but it still had the same design as the others: to put it simply, an oversized box with a roof.

_I guess the hakuda building is smaller because whoever designed it wanted students to get closer to each other, which is essential in learning any hand-to-hand combat. Zangetsu, is there a talented reiatsu sen-_

/_No. Hoho and kido are the only classes with the talented reiatsu sensors._/

**So I won't be able to torture King without catching the attention of the kido teacher? Darn… Wait a moment… why do I have to mask King's reiatsu? Can't you do that, Zangetsu?**

Ichigo was about to irritably answer no when the teacher entered the building. He was a youngish man, in about his twenties or thirties (but who can tell in Soul Society?) with long raven-black hair that was tied into a ponytail.

"Good morning, class!" he said with fake cheeriness. Ichigo immediately thought, _Uh oh. Not good. Teachers with that attitude are the toughest teachers around._

**How do you know that, King?** Shiro asked in a bored tone. He was still sulking from Zangetsu's announcement about the kido instructor.

_Because I've been in eleven years of school, that's why. Now leave me alone, I want to focus on the lesson._

"My name is Koichi Akamizu. I'm sure you've already heard one long lecture from Ikoto, so I won't make you hear it again. However-," he said, with a glint in his eye, "-we'll use that time for muscle building exercises, also called conditioning. Give me one hundred pushups, now!!"

_I knew it, _Ichigo inwardly groaned as he did his pushups. Although he wasn't struggling anywhere near as much as the other freshmen, he did not enjoy doing the pushups at all.

Akamizu was a great teacher, but he was very demanding, and from time to time, harsh. About half the time was spent doing conditioning. Even Ichigo was sore from the brutal workout. Akamizu showed his first act of mercy by allowing the freshmen fifteen minutes of down time before actually beginning to spar. The freshmen collapsed where they stood, exhausted and sweating.

After the break was over, Akamizu made the students pair up and spar with each other. Ichigo was sparring with a muscle-bound youth who looked about twenty years old (again, you can't tell the age of a konpaku in Soul Society by appearance alone). Although the youth had plenty of power behind his well-aimed kicks and punches, he wasn't nearly as fast or agile as Ichigo. Ichigo played with the youth the entire rest of the class. Afterwards, Ichigo noticed Akamizu and several of the other freshmen were staring at him strangely.

_Again. AGAIN!! Can't I ever get a break from awed students and suspicious teachers?!_

Ichigo stomped off in a bad mood. He had just reached the cafeteria when the youth caught up with him.

"Good job during sparring today. My name is Ryota Asukai. It's nice to meet you, um…"

"Ichigo Kurosaki."

"It's nice to meet you. I hope we can spar again in hakuda soon." Ryota bowed and then walked off towards the lunch line.

**Wow. What a miracle. A freshman was finally nice to you after seeing your skills**, Shiro said sarcastically.

_Leave me alone, Shiro. Shouldn't you be hiding by now?_

**I'll hide when we get to kido.**

/_What's gotten into you, Ichigo? You're awfully irritable today._/

**Yeah, no kidding.**

_I made the realization that, since this is the past, the three bastards are still captains. And if I want our secrets to stay under wraps, I'll have to treat them like any other captain._

**Which means you still get to beat the crap out of them, right? And what do you mean by secrets?**

_What universe are you from? The Shinigami are no longer our enemies. Aizen, Ichimaru, Tousen, and the Arrancar are. _

/_Since this is the past, Ichigo has to act like any other Academy student. They're probably in awe of the Captains. Ichigo doesn't have to act in awe of the traitors, he just has to show no open hostility._/

_And "secrets" meaning our origin and my existence as a still-human Vizard. Are you feeling ok, Shiro? You're awfully slow today._

**WHO ARE YOU CALLIN' SLOW, REIATSU-CONTROL IMPAIRED FREAK!!!!!!!!!**

"Hey, Kurosaki-san, are you ok? You've been really out of it today."

"Huh? What?" Ichigo said, snapping out of the conversation. Hokkaido was hovering over Ichigo, looking concerned. Ichigo quickly regained his composure and replied, "I'm fine. I'm just a little tired, that's all."

Hokkaido hovered over Ichigo for a few seconds, looking unconvinced. After receiving a scathing glare from Ichigo, he left.

_I finally got close enough to get a good reading of his reiatsu…But what the heck was it? It almost felt as if Kurosaki were part hollow, with a bit of human mixed in. But that's utterly impossible!!!! There's no way Shinigami or Shinigami-in-training could be part human or part hollow!!!!!!_

"Kurosaki's so rude. I wonder how the captains will take it when he enters a Squad."

Hokkaido snapped back to the present to see Ikoto sitting down next to him while glancing towards the orange-haired youth.

"I need to talk to you after your last class. And bring Akamizu and Kiyosugi, as well," Hokkaido murmured to Ikoto. Hokkaido stood and left to get ready for his next class.

_What was that about? _Ikoto wondered while eating his tasteless stir-fry.

* * *

_Oh crap crap crap… I HATE KIDO!!!!!!!_

**Shut it, King! You've been repeating that for the last, oh, HALF HOUR!!!!!!!**

/_Shiro, it's time to go into hiding._/

**NO!!!!!!!!! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME GO INTO HIDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

_Wow. I never knew Shiro could act so childish._

Right before Ichigo reached the doors of the kido building, Shiro's voice faded away into silence.

_Please don't tell me I have to go through with that every hoho and kido class._

/_Shiro will eventually get used to hiding._/

_I really hope you're right._

Ichigo opened the doors to the kido building. He was surprised by what he found. The kido building had a low roof, but he hadn't expected the kido building to be a classroom with no space for practicing the actual art. There was a chalkboard up front and a stack of textbooks ran along the eastern and western walls. Ichigo read some of the titles.

_A Rookie's Guide to Kido__… __A Rookie's Guide to Energy Control__… __Basic Kido__… __Kido Spells 50 and Up__… __How to Refine Your Kido__… Just how many books are there?!?!?_

/_This is a good resource of kido information. We should probably borrow some of the books._/

_Zangetsu. Are you actually suggesting I steal a copy of all of these textbooks?!_

/_In order for you to get stronger, we're going to have to break a few rules. For starters, I don't think the Academy rules allow inner hollows._/

_Uh… maybe we should just check these books out at the Academy's library._

/_We'll still have to borrow a couple of the books that are here. I doubt that __Mastering Advanced Kido__ will be in the library. Why would they keep manuals for powerful and dangerous kido spells in a library open to complete novices?_/

_Alright, alright, I get the message. Shiro's gonna love this… Me practicing advanced kido spells learned from a stolen textbook in the middle of a forest with no civilization for miles around with only you and Shiro for company… oh goody…_

After Ichigo terminated the conversation, he finished scanning the room. There were doors near the back that most likely led to the target practice grounds. The walls were completely devoid of any decoration, just like the walls of the other buildings.

"Hey, Ichigo."

Renji's voice startled Ichigo out of his thoughts. "Oh, hey Renji. How was zanjutsu?"

"Alright. I was actually one of the best in the class. But did you hear? They're trying out a new system this year!!"

"A new system of what?"

"Schedules!! Instead of putting our extra classes at the end of the day, they're going to integrate them into our regular schedule!!! We'll get our updated schedules next Monday."

"Ok…" Ichigo decided to ignore the fact that Renji was making a big deal about something that made no sense whatsoever to him. "You do know you're making no sense at all, right?"

"You're just too lazy to pick up one of the flyers all around campus and read it!!!"

"Whatever. I'll get what you're trying to tell me next Monday when they hand the new schedules out."

Renji was interrupted from hotly pursuing the subject when the kido instructor entered through the door at the back of the classroom. She was a tall, slim woman in her early twenties (once again, who can tell a konpaku's age in Soul Society?) with her blond hair tied up in a ponytail. She had slim muscles that radiated quiet strength. Ichigo knew that more than one of the boys in the class was salivating over the kido instructor.

"Good afternoon, and welcome to your first kido class. My name is Suzume Kiyosugi. I'm your kido instructor." Kiyosugi's voice was hard and Ichigo immediately knew she would be as demanding as the other teachers. She began to hand out some of the textbooks while giving a speech similar to Ikoto's. Ichigo glanced down at the textbooks he had been handed.

_A Rookie's Guide to Energy Control__, __Basic Kido__, and__ How to Refine Your Kido.__ Oh #%$._

* * *

Argh… writer's block is the bane of all writers… %#$ writer's block…

Ok, had to get that out of my system. I have been busy with homework and projects and sports and… you get the point. I haven't had any time to write. I'm sorry, and here's the next chapter. I'm sorry if it's a little shorter than the other chapters.

I don't like some of the worse swear words, so make do with (&%$) this stuff, ok?

As I'm sure many of you have noticed, Shiro is more docile and smarter than what he is in the manga. I'm just writing it that way because Shiro's more docile personality fits this story best.

How's this: I add omake every five chapters. That way I can still focus mostly on the main story as well as provide comic relief for myself as well as y'all. I have fun writing omake like that!!!

Do you want me to translate the teacher's names in the next chapter? Cuz I can if you want… quite easily…

XxabridgedgirlxX: Yes, I have an odd tendency to beat up Urahara. He's just so fun to pick on!! And yes, this is my first fanfiction. Go to my profile and look at the _**publish**_ date on all three stories. This **is** my first fanfic, believe it or not.

Bethany: Like I said in the summary, there are no pairings. Yet. Right now I'm just trying to focus on the main story, but if I have time I'll attempt to throw some romance in there. On that note, THERE WILL BE NO YAOI IN THIS FANFIC!!!!!

mahagany: Thank you for your encouragement!!

Everyone else, I thank you for reviews, whether I've responded to them or not. I **have** read them all.

-HM


	8. Breaking Point

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Bleach.

Shiro: **Hi**

Ichigo's thoughts: _Hi_

Zangetsu: /_Hi_/

* * *

_**Ichigo glanced down at the textbooks he had been handed.**_

**A Rookie's Guide to Energy Control****, ****Basic Kido****, and**** How to Refine Your Kido.**** Oh #%$.**

* * *

Chapter 8—Breaking Point

Kiyosugi gave the freshmen about 30 minutes to review energy control and the first few hado and bakudo spells, then led them outside to the target practice grounds.

Ichigo glanced around the target practice area. It was a large courtyard with a tall, reinforced, stone wall on the perimeter. There were no decorative shrubs of any kind, just short grass. Small targets were lined up against the back wall. A wooden platform that jutted into the area marked the distance hado spells were shot from. Wooden dummies were placed about five feet apart against the eastern wall for bakudo practice. They were also placed at random intervals near the western wall for practicing hado spells. Broken, discarded targets and dummies were put in a pile to the side.

"Line up on the eastern wall for bakudo practice!!" Kiyosugi shouted.

"Yes, sir!!!" the students replied. The freshmen lined up next to the dummies, awaiting their orders. Ichigo was near Renji, Izuru, Momo, and Kaede.

"Practice bakudo number one!!!!"

"Yes sir!!"

The class went on like this for a while, and frankly, Ichigo was bored. He was at first nervous that his kido would blow up, but after reading some of the energy control guide, he did the kido perfectly. The trick was to stay focused and to use only a little reiatsu. It was very difficult for Ichigo to use only a sliver of his power, but he managed. Barely. Ichigo also noticed some of the other students were tiring quickly.

_They're tired because they're using up their reiatsu._

/_They haven't yet developed enough spirit energy to-_/

_**BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**_

_Aw, crap, not again!!!!!!!!!!_

/_You lost focus. Again._/

Several of the students, including Ichigo, jumped away from the ruined dummy. Its upper body had been blown to pieces and its lower body was still intact, but scorched. Several of the dummies around it also sported burn marks. Kiyosugi walked up to the dummies to inspect the damage with an unreadable expression on her face. After she finished examining the dummy, she said wearily, "Go to the western wall and practice hado number one. Now!!"

"Yes sir!!"

The students migrated to the dummies on the western wall. On closer inspection, Ichigo realized that the dummies were bolted to the ground to prevent them from being blown away by misfired or backfiring hado spells. Ichigo was once again near Renji, Izuru, Momo, and Kaede (_why am I being stalked by miniature versions of my friends and a jealous psychopath?!_). Once all the freshmen were at the western wall, they began to attempt to use hado on the dummies. Ichigo quickly realized from glancing around him that performing hado was a little more reiatsu draining than bakudo.

/_Concentrate. Let's keep the destroyed dummy count at one today._/

After a few successful attempts at the spell, Ichigo relaxed slightly.

_Hey, I'm not doing as bad as I tho-_

_**BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**_

_AGAIN?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?"_

"Whose dummy keeps blowing up?" one of the freshmen wondered aloud. The dummy in question now sported a big hole in its chest. Several scratches adorned the nearby dummies from wooden shrapnel. When Kaede glanced over at Ichigo, she saw a mixture of surprise, agitation, and guilt on his face. Kiyosugi once again stalked over to the wreckage. After studying the wrecked dummy for a while she sighed, "You five…" she pointed to Ichigo, Renji, Izuru, Momo, and Kaede, "…come with me. The rest of you, continue practicing!"

While the rest of the freshmen were practicing their kido, Ichigo, Izuru, Renji, Kaede, and Momo were lined up in front of Kiyosugi inside of the classroom. Momo and Izuru were wringing their hands nervously, Renji and Ichigo were staring off into space, and Kaede was openly glaring at Ichigo. Kiyosugi looked at each of them and asked, "Whose dummy exploded?"

After a few seconds of silence, Kaede replied, "I believe Ichigo's dummies were the ones that exploded."

After another pause Kiyosugi stated, "Alright, then. Kira-san, Hinamori-san, and Kuromizu-san, you may go. Rejoin the other freshmen practicing kido. You may go too, Abarai-san." Said freshmen scrambled back outside and Renji practically sprinted out the door, relief plain on his face. Once all the other freshmen were gone, Kiyosugi turned to Ichigo. "Kurosaki-san, do you know why your dummy blew up?"

Ichigo had been expecting a harsh reprimand and a punishment, so he was caught off-guard at Kiyosugi's sudden question. When he regained his composure, Ichigo replied hoarsely, "No, sir."

"I thought as much. Your dummy blew up because you put an excessive amount of energy into the spell. Every spell has a breaking point where it will cease to function properly. In other words, blow up or backfire. The lower the breaking point, the less energy is needed for the spell to backfire. The more difficult the spell, the lower the breaking point, and hado spells have lower breaking points than bakudo spells. The spell with the highest breaking point is bakudo number one. I have only seen one other freshman before you who broke that breaking point, and she was promoted… over 70 years ago. Although I have to say, surpassing two breaking points of low-level kido spells in one day is a pretty spectacular way to fail kido." Both student and teacher grinned.

After mulling over the information he had been presented with, Ichigo asked, "Why are you telling me this, Sensei?"

"Because I think you should know why your kido backfired, and to try and prevent more of that…" she gestured towards the destroyed dummies"…from happening. Any other questions?"

"Who was promoted, and to what? Captain? And what are the ways to avoid surpassing the breaking point?"

Kiyosugi winced. _He's so perceptive!! That's classified information he's asking about!!_ Aloud she answered, "To avoid surpassing the breaking point, you either need to intensify the spell, like a stronger shield or a bigger fireball, or you get good enough to avoid overshooting the breaking point."

Ichigo nodded. "Thank you, Sensei."

"You're welcome, Kurosaki-san. Now get out there and try to avoid destroying more dummies."

_I wonder why Sensei didn't answer my question about the promotion…_

By the end of the class, a grand total of four dummies were trashed.

* * *

"Did you hear? They say some freshman kid blew up four dummies in kido today. Four!! That guy must be absolutely terrible!! Either that or he's so freakishly powerful that he can't control his reiatsu."

"Maybe he's that freshman prodigy? Ya know, the one all the teachers are talking about?"

"Well I think…"

Ichigo groaned and clapped his hands over his ears. News of the kido class spread around the school like wildfire, and rumors had been flying about him ever since. There were hushed whispers and concealed glances shot in his direction everywhere he went. Finally Ichigo's temper snapped and he fled to his dorm, away from the curious stares. He plunked down on his bed and gave way to his drowsiness, falling into the embrace of sleep right before Shiro broke out of his hideout.

* * *

(Vizards)

"Is it done yet?"

"No, Hiyori. We're about halfway done. And we can't even make an attempt before the full moon."

"THANKS FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT, DICKHEAD SHINJI!!!!"

_**CLANG!!!!!**_

"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE THROWING THAT TABLE!!!!!!!"

_Why is Hiyori so violent?… Especially when that thing is involved?… _Hachi and Lisa wondered simultaneously.

* * *

(Urahara Shoten)

"Is there anything else I need to do, Urahara?"

"No, Yoruichi. Just tell Chad, Uryu, Orihime, Renji, and Rukia to try and kill more hollows then usual. Having more spiritual particles in the atmosphere isn't mandatory, but it will certainly help."

On the table, a Soul Pager started ringing wildly. When Hat-and-Clogs opened it, it displayed numerous dots. Dots that signified nearby hollows.

"… Please don't tell me Uryu used hollow bait…"

"Oh, for the love of…"

_I'm going to really feel sorry for Uryu when Yoruichi catches him…_

* * *

(the past, teachers)

Hokkaido fidgeted impatiently as he waited for Ikoto and the others to arrive. They were already fifteen minutes late. He was currently in the low-ceilinged teachers' lounge, which was always empty right after classes. It was full before classes and during lunch, but after classes, it was usually empty because the teachers had other things to do, namely tutoring and extra classes. And the occasional nap.

The door burst open, displaying a flustered Kiyosugi. "My apologies," she panted, "I had to take care of all the broken dummies from my last class, not to mention I only found out about your little meeting about five minutes ago." (1)

"Wait… Ikoto is running around telling Akamizu _now_?" Kiyosugi nodded. "I told him to talk to the other teachers _before_ their classes, not after." Hokkaido grumbled.

"I'm HEEEEERE!!!" Ikoto, as usual, made a dramatic entrance. Akamizu, who was behind Ikoto, murmured his greetings and sat down on one of the free cushions.

"Ikoto, why didn't you tell Akamizu and Kiyosugi about our little meeting this morning?" Hokkaido demanded while serving the group tea.

"Give me a break!! I didn't have the time before classes started to run to Kiyosugi's and Akamizu's rooms!!" Ikoto retorted.

Hokkaido sighed exasperatedly, then turned to Kiyosugi and Akamizu. "I invited you here today to talk about the freshman prodigy, Ichigo Kurosaki."

Akamizu cocked his head and inquired, "Has Kurosaki-san gotten himself into trouble? Already?"

"Well, I was cleaning up the dummies he wrecked." Kiyosugi grumbled.

Ikoto burst out laughing. "You mean my star freshman is the worst in your kido class? No way!!!!" He doubled over in laughter. Hokkaido shot Ikoto a withering glare before continuing. "Have any of you noticed anything… strange about Kurosaki-san?"

Akamizu answered immediately. "He's too good to be an amateur with an extreme amount of talent at hoho, hakuda, and zanjutsu."

Kiyosugi followed. "He has an insane amount of reiatsu. Those four dummies he broke? Every single one of them was destroyed when Kurosaki surpassed the spells' breaking points. Every single spell was a hado or bakudo number five and below. And I can't get a firm reading on his reiatsu."

"In my class, his reiatsu was impossible to read, too," Hokkaido agreed. "It was as if his reiatsu was being suppressed or hidden by something. At lunch, though, I could read his reiatsu signature clear as day. It was very difficult to read, and I'm not sure I analyzed it correctly."

"But what did you read?" Kiyosugi inquired, leaning in closer.

"It felt as if there were layers upon layers of emotion and raw, untapped power built on an even larger and more complex base. I can't remember the last time I came upon so much untapped potential. Beneath those layers were traces of… Never mind. I can't have read his signature correctly."

Ikoto hit him hard on the back with a look of annoyance before sighing, "There you go again. You get us all worked up, and then you cut off at the last second when the tension is stifling."

"Before you tell us what you thought you felt, can I see Kurosaki-san's file?" Akamizu inquired. Hokkaido nodded while handing him the file (before the meeting, Hokkaido had asked an exasperated secretary if he could borrow Kurosaki's file again). Akamizu's eyes widened as he read Ichigo's entrance exams statistics. Kiyosugi noticed his stunned expression and inquired, "What?" Wordlessly Akamizu handed the file to Kiyosugi. When Kiyosugi read the statistics, she choked on the tea she had been drinking and got it all over Ikoto. Once she regained her breath, she apologized to Ikoto, who laughed it off and went to change. He returned a few minutes later wearing a fresh teacher's uniform.

"Spit it out, Hotaka," Ikoto demanded as he reentered the lounge. "What did you sense in Kurosaki?"

Hokkaido sighed before murmuring, "Before I tell you what I sensed, I need to tell Akamizu and Kiyosugi an important bit of info about Kurosaki. He's hiding something, most likely something important or sinister about his origins, and I want to know what. He lied about where he came from and who his Sensei was, and it wouldn't surprise me if Kurosaki would lie about his real current skill level, too. He is very obviously trying to hide his incredible strength and expertise, in hoho, at least." Akamizu nodded in agreement.

"Just spit out what you sensed in Kurosaki's reiatsu. It can't be _that_ outlandish," Ikoto snorted before glancing at Hokkaido's serious face. "Can it?"

"Yes, it can be _that_ outlandish. I thought I caught the barest traces of hollow and human in his reiatsu."

Akamizu turned pale and dropped the teacup he had been holding, spilling its contents everywhere. Kiyosugi started choking on air. Ikoto leaped up and hit his head on the low ceiling. Hard. So intermingled with Kiyosugi's hacking was Ikoto's colorful language. Charming.

Hokkaido gave a grim smile and stated, "You took it better than I thought you would."

"You think our reactions are good ones? Think again!" Ikoto snarled, rubbing his sore head.

"H-how could a freshman have a reiatsu with human _and _hollow in it?" Kiyosugi spluttered.

"Is that even possible?" wondered the still-pale Akamizu.

"It's possible to be part hollow and part Shinigami," Kiyosugi muttered darkly. "There have even been a couple cases of part Shinigami and part human. But never, in all the years I've been in the Soul Society, have I heard of Shinigami who are part hollow and part human."

"And we still don't know if Hokkaido's reading is accurate," Akamizu reminded them.

"In any case, keep an eye on the boy. Try to get him to talk about his past. Any small bit of information is very useful," Hokkaido said. "Any questions?"

Kiyosugi hesitated before stammering, "Should we tell our superiors?"

"No," Hokkaido replied firmly. "We can't tell them about our suspicions. After all, I'm not sure if I got the reading right in the first place."

"Are we going to confront Kurosaki? As a group? Or should we try to remain indiscreet? And should we follow Kurosaki to see where he goes on his day off?" Akamizu queried.

"For now, let's just focus on getting information out of the boy. We should confront him later. A lot later. And we won't start stalking him. Yet." Hokkaido replied carefully.

"Alright. Any more questions for Hokkaido? No? Good. I want to get to my room and sleep now, so if you all don't mind, I'm going to go," Ikoto stated. He sauntered out of the room, whistling as if the discussion in the lounge had never happened. Akamizu and Kiyosugi soon left for their own destinations, as well. Hokkaido was the last to leave the lounge.

* * *

Kiyosugi groaned before collapsing into her chair in her classroom. She still hadn't finished cleaning up the dummies Ichigo had wrecked. With a tired sigh, she heaved herself outside. She was sweeping up the scorched remains of the dummies when a slight movement caught her eye. All her weariness gone, she walked over to the spot on the reinforced wall where she had seen a pebble fall. Kiyosugi gently prodded the barrier. All of a sudden, cracks appeared and started to crisscross the "kido-proof" wall. In a matter of seconds, a whole section of the wall fell away, revealing a very stunned kido teacher to the astonished students walking by. After inspecting the barrier and the destroyed dummy nearest to it, Kiyosugi lifted her head up and screamed, "KUROSAKI!!!"

Nearby, Ikoto poked his head out of his room and half-grinned, half-grimaced when he saw the demolished barrier. "So much for the 'kido-proof' wall," he muttered amusedly.

* * *

I hope I made a modicum of sense with my whole "breaking point" deal. I couldn't think of any other logical explanation for backfiring kido.

If you like FMA, look up Silhouette The SANVAE. She writes really good stories!!

I'm going to start answering some of the reviews I get inside of the chapters. Deal with it.

For starters, **Dracco**, **Elistax**, and **Godzilla2**: Thank you very much for your suggestions. I will try to incorporate them into my story. If they don't appear in this chapter they will appear in another, later chapter.

**XxabridgedgirlyxX**: Thank you for the review. And yes, Ichigo is going to screw up kido really badly. What fun is it any other way?? *grin*

**Potato and**: I'm focusing on the main story for the most part. I'm still going to do the omake. I need some comic relief in my life. It will go at the bottom this time. Also, the real chapter's going to be the same length as it usually is. Just because I'm posting omake doesn't mean the length of the actual chapter will shorten.

(1) Hokkaido is one of the senior teachers at the Academy, so Kiyosugi treats him with respect. Akamizu has been at the Academy longer than Kiyosugi but shorter than Hokkaido. Ikoto has been at the Academy about the same time as Hokkaido, but has the boisterous attitude of Kiyosugi.

-HM


	9. New Schedule

**

* * *

**

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

Shiro: **Hi**

Ichigo's thoughts: _Hi_

Zangetsu: /_Hi_/

* * *

Chapter 9—New Schedule

Ichigo was currently in his dorm room, glaring at the file in his hands. It was Saturday, the end of week one, and apparently the skills of each student had been assessed. So, their schedules had been changed accordingly. The file Ichigo was currently holding contained his new schedule, as well as the actual results of his assessment.

_So this is what Renji was excited about all week long._

Ichigo opened the folder and shifted through the papers until he found his updated schedule.

_

Ichigo Kurosaki — Advanced Class; Reiatsu Level 7; Dorm 2nd floor, Room 204

Monday

Hoho (8:30-10:30)  
Extra Kido (10:40-12:00)  
Lunch (12:10-1:00)  
Reiatsu control (1:10-3:10)  
Zanjutsu (3:20-4:40)  
Healing (4:50-6:15)

Tuesday

Zanpakuto meditation (8:30-10:30)  
Hakuda (10:40-12:00)  
Lunch (12:10-1:00)  
Kido (1:10-3:10)  
Practical Combat (3:20-4:40)  
Extra zanjutsu (4:50-6:15)

Wednesday

Kido (8:30-10:30)  
Extra zanjutsu (10:40-12:00)  
Lunch (12:10-1:00)  
Hakuda (1:10-3:10)  
Reiatsu control (3:20-4:40)  
Practical Combat (4:50-6:15)

Thursday

Zanpakuto meditation (8:30-10:30)  
Healing 10:40-12:00)  
Lunch (12:10-1:00)  
Practical Combat (1:10-3:10)  
Extra Kido (3:20-4:40)  
Hoho (4:50-6:15)

Friday

Zanjutsu (8:30-10:30)  
Practical Combat (10:40-12:00)  
Lunch (12:10-1:00)  
Hakuda (1:10-3:10)  
Reiatsu Control (3:20-4:40)  
Extra Kido (4:50-6:15)

Saturday

Hoho (8:30-10:30)  
Zanjutsu (10:40-12:00)  
Lunch (12:10-1:00)  
Kido (1:10-3:10)  
Extra Hakuda (3:20-4:40)  
Practical Combat(4:50-6:15)

_

After reading and rereading his schedule several time to make sure he hadn't misread, Ichigo collapsed onto his bed in shock.

_I have kido every. Single. Bloody. Day. Every day!! All my other classes aren't every single day!! Dammit!!_

Ichigo lay on his bed motionless for a few moments before sitting back up and glancing through his assessment papers. The handwritten notes in zanjutsu, hakuda and hoho said little more than "_Stellar_" and "_Great job—a real prodigy!!_" As he came to his kido assessment, the notes changed drastically. "_Needs extensive work on reiatsu control_" and "_Very destructive_" dominated the top of the page. As Ichigo worked his way down the page, he became increasingly discouraged.

_I knew I was terrible at kido, but I didn't know I was __**this**__ bad._

Ignoring the sounds of his hollow's shrill laughter, Ichigo's eyes alit on the bottom of the page. There was a small note written in a different color ink, obviously meant for Ichigo's eyes only.

"_I'm putting you in all my kido classes available to freshmen in hopes you will improve. However, in the future, please try to refrain from destroying any more school property that isn't meant to be destroyed._"

Ichigo winced at the implied meaning:

"_Don't destroy the wall again._"

It had been disastrous when the wall had been destroyed. Several Shinigami from the 12th squad had to rush to the Academy to fix the barrier, and then integrate newer (and stronger) kido reinforcements, and in greater quantities. And of course, the money came straight out of the Academy's budget. Needless to say, the teachers weren't very happy. _Especially _Kiyosugi. She had to apologize profusely to the headmaster before he dropped her punishment (namely, the money for the wall coming out of **her** budget). The she had to track down Ichigo so that he himself could apologize to the headmaster. After being informed he would be kicked out of the Academy if it happened again, Ichigo had to endure Kiyosugi's wrath in her classroom for two hours straight. Ichigo shuddered at the memory. He didn't want to go through _that _again.

Other than the broken wall, the rest of the week had passed by quietly. Ichigo continued to amaze in zanjutsu, hakuda, and hoho, and continued to destroy dummies in kido. But Ichigo was showing some signs of improvement. The daily demolished dummy count dropped from four to two. And the barrier hadn't been destroyed again.

All week long the other students continued to stare in awe at Ichigo, although the staring and rumors were starting to die down some (much to Ichigo's relief).

However, the teachers seemed to be keeping a close watch on him, seemingly increasingly so as the week went by. By the end of the week, Ichigo had started to hide Shiro whenever Hokkaido or Kiyosugi were near him, which included mealtimes. In response, Shiro had become more irritable and more reclusive, and Zangetsu was forced to take over the task of suppressing Ichigo's enormous reiatsu. All three involved were looking forward to the next day, when all-out training could take place. Of course, in Shiro's case, it was just an excuse to try and beat up Ichigo. But even with the prospect of the upcoming Sunday, Shiro still pestered Ichigo to try and figure out how to get back to their own time. This occurrence had become rather common, much to Ichigo's annoyance. And now was one of those times.

**King! Now that you have some free time, start figuring out how to get back! **Shiro's irritated voice cut through Ichigo's thoughts.

_Leave me alone. I want to sleep so I'm fresh for tomorrow, _Ichigo shot back.

Ichigo could tell Shiro was about to retaliate, but Zangetsu interrupted him.

/_Let him sleep, Shiro._/

Grumbling, Shiro broke contact with Ichigo, allowing him to fall asleep in peace.

* * *

(The next day. Sunday.)

**King! Wake up! It's Sunday!! **Shiro called in a sing-song voice, breaking through Ichigo's dreamless sleep.

Ichigo cracked open his eyes and glanced at the clock next to his bed, then groaned, rolled over, and shut his eyes again.

_Shiro, it's five in the morning… lemme sleep…_

**No!! I let you sleep last night, but I want the entire day to fight!! GET THE HELL UP!!!!**

_Alright, alright, I'm up, I'm up._

Grumbling, Ichigo stumbled out of bed and started sifting through his robes to find some that could get absolutely shredded and not be missed. After finding some ragged robes, Ichigo shunpoed to the kitchens and stole some pastries and frozen stir-fry for later. After all, it was too early for the cafeteria to be open. After packing his lunch and dinner items in a makeshift sack and scarfing down his breakfast, Ichigo discreetly shunpoed out of the Academy gates and began travelling towards the forest surrounding the Academy.

After about an hour of near non-stop shunpo and about ten miles away from the Academy and Seireitei, Ichigo came upon a large clearing, large enough for the training he was about to do. The woods surrounding the clearing were dense, so there was little chance they would be accidentally stumbled upon and interrupted. However, with the amount of reiatsu Ichigo and his inner spirits would be emitting, they would be detected by the 12th squad's sensors in an instant.

_I guess I should continue, _Ichigo sighed.

/_We don't need to go any farther. Examine the ground._/

Curious as to why Zangetsu stopped him, Ichigo stooped and examined some of the pebbles near his feet. To his surprise, the fragments of stone were Sekki-Sekki rock.

/_If we line the fringes of this clearing with the Sekki-Sekki rock, we could have an effective reiatsu-blocking barrier._/

_I'm willing to move the rock, Zangetsu. But could I have some help so we can get to training more quickly?_

**Count me out.**

_I wasn't talking to you._

**Quit acting like I'm not here!!**

/_Go help Ichigo, Shiro._/

**I told you, I don't want to.**

/_Just do it._/

Something in the tone of the zanpakuto's voice must have intimidated the hollow, because Shiro allowed Ichigo to materialize him. (1) The two began to haul the biggest chunks of Sekki-Sekki they could find to encircle the clearing. Ichigo occasionally glanced over in amazement at his hollow. It was the first time he had seen Shiro doing this sort of manual labor. Ichigo admired his zanpakuto for being able to force the hollow to help with the task. Of course Shiro, being linked (even if indirectly) to Ichigo's feelings even when materialized, realized what Ichigo was thinking. Which made him all the more agitated. After about a half hour of shifting rock, the barrier was complete.

_Zangetsu, are you sure this will block out all the reiatsu that we'll be emitting?_

/_It won't block out all of our reiatsu, but it will block enough for our purposes._/

"**Alrighty, then. Can we get started?**" (2) Shiro asked in unusually cheery voice. Ichigo shuddered. When Shiro was really happy, it usually meant someone was about to be beaten to a pulp, usually him.

Zangetsu materialized quietly in the background, waiting for the hollow and Shinigami to begin sparring ferociously. (3)

"Sure, why not?" Ichigo sighed. He yelped as the white Zangetsu materialized in front of his nose, almost slicing him in half.

"At least let me materialize my sword!!"

* * *

(3 hours later…)

"_Alright, stop!!_" Zangetsu called to the combatants. Ichigo almost immediately jumped away from Shiro, impaling the ground with his zanpakuto and walking to Zangetsu. Shiro scowled angrily, but followed suit.

Ichigo was covered with sweat and out of breath. He had several shallow scratches on his arms and cheek, and a deep gash on his back. Shiro fared little better. Though he wasn't as out of breath or as sweaty as Ichigo, he had more minor scratches and two deep cuts on his chest.

"What time is it?" Ichigo sighed, collapsing onto the ground.

"_Judging by the position of the sun, I'd say it's about ten o'clock._"

"**We've only been sparring for three hours?**" Shiro grunted.

"_That is correct._"

"**So, we have another two hours before lunch. Let's not waste it,**" Shiro grinned, hauling Ichigo to his feet.

"_I'd like to train with Ichigo next. And besides, Ichigo needs to have his wounds healed._"

"**You've grown soft, Zangetsu, and King's grown out of shape,**" Shiro hissed angrily.

"Who couldn't, with the relaxed training regimen at the Academy?" Ichigo grumbled.

"_The only reason I want Ichigo to recover is because I want to help him train with kido._"

At these words, Shiro froze and Ichigo's mouth dropped open. You could have heard a pin drop.

Since neither Ichigo nor Shiro looked like they would show any signs of life anytime soon unless prodded by an outside force, Zangetsu spoke again. "_Come here, Ichigo._"

Numbly, Ichigo moved to where Zangetsu was standing. Zangetsu peeled off Ichigo's bloody top, then laid his hands on the deep (and still-bleeding) cut on Ichigo's back. Ichigo didn't even wince as Zangetsu began to heal his wounds.

Shielding his thoughts from his inner spirits, Ichigo thought, _I never knew Zangetsu was this good of a healer. I probably should have realized it, because of what he did during my fight with Kenpachi, but… I never made the connection… I guess I need to start connecting with Zangetsu and Shiro more, otherwise I'll never be able to bring out their full potential…_

Ichigo's eyes refocused when he felt Zangetsu lift his hands from the worst injuries. Sighing sadly, Ichigo slowly climbed to his feet and faced Zangetsu. To Ichigo's surprise, Zangetsu turned to Shiro and ordered the hollow, with a very blunt voice, to let him and Ichigo train in peace. Ichigo was utterly shocked that his pale counterpart actually obeyed orders, albeit obviously grudgingly. The hollow stalked out of the clearing, and it took a few moments for Ichigo to regain his voice.

"Ah… Zangetsu? Are you sure it's… safe to let Shiro roam free?" he asked hesitantly.

His manifested zanpakuto nodded. "_He will not directly attack anyone or indirectly lead someone here. Not while I can reasonably control him. Now, shall we get started?_"

* * *

(Hokkaido)

Hokkaido was a very shrewd man. He could tell, even more so now, that the freshman prodigy Ichigo Kurosaki had something to hide. Something very big to hide. The amount of restraint shown in his reiatsu coupled with his prodigious skill immediately informed the teacher that Kurosaki was stronger than he let on, and not to be trusted. Especially after those lies about his origin.

And now it was Sunday, the day where there were no classes being held to keep the students in one place. Some of the students were still in bed and some had vacated the campus to visit relatives, in Rukongai or otherwise. A few dedicated others were working out in the gymnasium. And students weren't allowed into the main part of Seireitei yet, mainly because the maze of streets would have the unfortunate students lost in seconds. But one Ichigo Kurosaki was nowhere to be found.

Hokkaido instantly ruled out the Academy. He would have sensed Kurosaki's reiatsu. And he wasn't in Rukongai, either. Earlier, Hokkaido had used his fastest shunpo to tour the more distant sections attempt to pick out the young Shinigami's reiatsu. No such luck.

As the hoho instructor distractedly fiddled with his quill, he attempted to quell the growing knots in his stomach. Kurosaki was powerful, and if he couldn't sense the freshman's reiatsu…

It could only mean that the novice Shinigami wanted to train by himself, far away, where he couldn't be sensed. Another sign that he was hiding something.

Hokkaido shook his head, desperately trying to reassure himself. He was just overreacting. Kurosaki hadn't disappeared to train by his lonesome… had he?

* * *

There is no yaoi in this fanfic. End of story. Period. I'm not changing my mind.

I'm really, really sorry for the really late update. I won't go into details, but let's just say my life has been too hectic for updates. I have NOT abandoned this fanfic.

(1) For the purposes of this fanfic, Ichigo can materialize Shiro.

(2) When Shiro (or Zangetsu) materialize, their style of speech is put into quotations. Shiro's is still bold and Zangetsu is just italicized.

(3) Zangetsu can materialize without Ichigo's help. Shiro can only materialize with Ichigo's consent, otherwise he would make a regular habit of materializing and killing everyone within 100 square miles. Not good.

-HM


	10. A Story Told in White

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Bleach.

Shiro: **Hi**

Ichigo's thoughts: _Hi_

Zangetsu: /_Hi_/

* * *

Chapter 10—A Story Told in White

While King and Old Man Zangetsu stayed in the clearing, Shiro bounded into the forest for parts unknown. He ran as fast as possible without resorting to sonido, burning off built-up energy and occasionally slicing a tree in half. Shiro didn't have a set destination in mind, and after slowing to a light jog, he turned to head back. Shiro guessed, from the position of the sun, that he should head back to the clearing. It had taken an hour to get out there, and it would take that long to get back. Without resorting to sonido, which Shiro didn't want to do unless absolutely necessary. However, due to all the random turns he had taken, Shiro didn't have a clue which way to go. And the Sekki-Sekki was doing a marvelous job of blocking Old Man's and King's reiatsu. Shiro growled angrily. He would have to backtrack to the Academy, then make his way to the clearing from there, using landmarks glimpsed through King's eyes. And of course, King would be pissed that Shiro had passed so close to "all those talented reiatsu sensors!" Shiro rolled his eyes. King would be able to sense reiatsu that well too if he would only learn to feel past his own massive reiatsu to sense others around him.

With his thoughts lost in annoyance for King and/or gleeful bloodlust, Shiro set out towards the nearest and most powerful source of reiatsu he could sense. Since he was so lost in thought (an occurrence that rarely happened) he didn't realize that instead of heading to the Academy, Shiro was set on a course straight for Seireitei.

* * *

Zangetsu paused his inspection of the bakudo Ichigo was using on a dummy Zangetsu had made. Something didn't feel right. Shiro seemed to be heading straight for Seireitei. Zangetsu shook his head distractedly. Shiro would stay away from Seireitei. There was too much a chance of Shiro getting discovered by any random Shinigami that happened to pass by. No, the Sekki-Sekki just had to be messing with his senses. There was no way Shiro would risk going to Seireitei. Zangetsu resumed his inspection of Ichigo's aforementioned bakudo, occasionally pointed out mistakes in the level of reiatsu in a given area. He tried to ignore the uneasy feeling that was building.

* * *

Shiro stood hidden in the forest, barely a meter away from being discovered. He had stumbled upon Seireitei moments earlier and was inwardly cursing his carelessness when a squadron of Shinigami, most likely from the 11th squad, had settled down for a drinking fest. If Shiro tried to sonido away, his hollow reiatsu would be picked up by the 12th squad's sensors in an instant, if not by the Shinigami themselves. And simply backing up and running wasn't an option, as the ground was littered with small twigs that would make a horrendous amount of noise when stepped on. Climbing the trees the twigs had fallen from wasn't an option either, since debris knocked loose from the tree would fall onto the Shinigami. Which would of course cause said Shinigami to glance up and see the hollow hidden in the branches. So Shiro was stuck, locked in one place by the danger of discovery. King would be furious. Not that Shiro really cared. Perhaps he should wait until the Shinigami were too drunk to tell up from down. Then Shiro could sneak away as quietly as possible. Yes, that plan of action would go well.

(2 hours later)

Shiro was fed up. By now most of the Shinigami had drifted into a drunken stupor. But there was a small group of the Shinigami who really knew how to hold their liquor. Still, bored and stiff from two hours of doing nothing but watch Shinigami drink, all Shiro wanted to do was go and get back to the clearing. So that's what he did. Shiro tore through the underbrush as silently as possible. Unfortunately for Shiro, one of the Shinigami heard the bushes rustle and peered into them. The Shinigami caught a glimpse of something white, whose freakish eyes had gold irises and black sclera. Later, the Shinigami would only just remember the mysterious flash of white in the bushes, and believed it was just a mirage his drunken mind had created.

Meanwhile, while Shiro tore through the forest toward the Academy, he inwardly cursed his bad luck that he had been spotted by that one drunken Shinigami. King would kill him.

Shiro arrived at the Academy in good time, still sulking. He had arrived behind the boys' dorms, near the cafeteria. Shiro knew he wouldn't be able to hide in the bushes to get across the Academy. No, Shiro had to sonido across the grounds as quickly as possible to get to the next strip of forest. And hope he wasn't seen or sensed in the process.

Shiro gritted his teeth angrily. Why did crap like this always happen to _him_?

Shiro's eyes roamed the grounds, checking for Shinigami-in-training or teachers. It couldn't be _that _hard to make it across the grounds. Could it?

Shiro shook his head. It seemed all clear, both in sight and sense. It was now or never.

Of course, things like this _never_ go as planned.

* * *

Hokkaido strolled across the grounds, completely undetectable by sight or sense. He had raided the 12th squad's storage and found and old, black cloak that looked completely unremarkable – except for the fact that it made the wearer invisible and blocked the user's reiatsu completely. Looking closer, one could see the unmistakable craftsmanship of Kisuke Urahara, and the signs of experimentation by Mayuri Kurotsuchi. Apparently this experiment of Urahara's was left when the man fled, and later modified by Kurotsuchi. Hokkaido had no idea why a powerful item like this was simply left in storage, but left in storage it had been. Perhaps Kurotsuchi had been unable to duplicate the cloak, thus making it useless for further experimentation (in Kurotsuchi's point of view). (1) Hokkaido was also surprised that no one had discovered yet that the "failed" experiment had been stolen. Hokkaido had had it in his possession for at least a year, maybe more.

_Oh well, _Hokkaido thought. _At least it's serving some purpose now._

Hokkaido had been traversing the grounds in search of Ichigo Kurosaki. Hokkaido's feelings about the freshman were confusing; he had never felt so suspicious and wary of a student before. Well, Gin Ichimaru came close, with his unnatural skills and creepy smile. But there was just something… off… about Ichigo Kurosaki, and Hokkaido wanted to find out what set off the alarm bells in his head.

Suddenly, something white crashed into Hokkaido with the force of a freight train, knocking the breath out of the man and sending him crashing to the ground. In the collision, the cloak slipped off his shoulders and tumbled to the ground beside Hokkaido. After recovering his breath, Hokkaido glanced at his assailant to find a confused... Ichigo Kurosaki?!

But wait… while the person Hokkaido ran into _looked _like Ichigo Kurosaki, some small details differentiated the two. For one, Ichigo's look-alike's hair was snow white… as was his skin! And this white doppelganger was wearing a shihakusho… inside out?! Wait, no. It was a white shihakusho!

_His nickname's gotta be Shiro-chan_, a small functional part of Hokkaido's dazed brain said.

Hokkaido's quick inspection of Ichigo's twin stopped at his eyes.

Those eyes were unreal.

The irises were a molten gold, revealing anger, confusion, and… was that a trace of hidden _fear_?... reflected in them. And the sclera… jet black. Hokkaido had never seen anything so bizarre.

Suddenly, "Ichigo" swore and shunpoed away.

Wait a second.

That person didn't use shunpo. That was sonido.

And during Hokkaido's physical inspection, Hokkaido failed to read the person's reiatsu. And it simply _reeked _of hollow.

Hokkaido's instincts kicked into gear. If there was a hollow on campus, it needed to be eradicated.

Hokkaido shunpoed after the hollow, grabbing an asauchi from a startled student. Hokkaido began following the faint trail of reiatsu left by the hollow. It seemed to be running haphazardly through the forest, trying to put as much distance between the two as possible.

But Hokkaido wasn't hoho teacher for nothing. He would catch up with this white stranger – no, hollow – if it was the last thing he'd do.

But in the confusion, Hokkaido didn't realize that he left his cloak was lying useless on the ground.

* * *

Shiro swore venomously. This was great. Just great. The hoho teacher (Hokkaido?) was following – no, chasing – him relentlessly. King would kill him, then resurrect him, then kill him again. The Old Man would reincarnate him, then resurrect his old body, then destroy them both.

Shiro's eyes narrowed. He could feel the teacher behind him, about 200 meters back. But why hadn't Shiro been able to feel him before?

The familiarity of Shiro's surroundings jerked him from his thoughts. Shiro was leading Hokkaido straight to the clearing!

Shiro immediately swerved away from the direction of the clearing. Time to begin evasive maneuvers.

* * *

Hokkaido frowned. The hollow had begun to duck and weave through the underbrush. It obviously wanted to be left alone. Hokkaido's frown deepened as he leapt over a fallen log. This hollow was odd. Its reiatsu was pure hollow, but its behavior was confusing, as was its appearance. Hollows mindlessly attack whoever they come across, regardless of strength. But this one was fleeing from him. And, from the brief glance at its face, it didn't have a mask. Was it one of those rumored Arrancar? No, Hokkaido had read that an Arrancar's reiatsu was a perfect, harmonized blend of Shinigami and hollow. (2) So what was it?

* * *

Once again in so many hours, Shiro was fed up. _Really _fed up. It was a miracle he hadn't attacked and killed anything human-shaped yet. But it was time to take drastic measures to get rid of Hokkaido. And if he got hurt badly, well, it wasn't Shiro's problem, was it?

* * *

Hokkaido paused. The reiatsu trail had stopped. It just abruptly ended. No warning, no foreshadowing, it just stopped. It was as if the hollow had just vanished. It certainly wasn't dead, else there would be a body. But Hokkaido didn't have time to ponder this new development. He glimpsed a flash of white followed by a gigantic sword, before pain exploded in the back of his skull and the world went dark.

* * *

Shiro stood over the unconscious Hokkaido. He didn't envy the man. Hokkaido would have a killer headache when he woke up. Shiro hefted the white Zangetsu over his shoulder before slinging Hokkaido onto his back. The man had been a great outlet to get rid of Shiro's anger. And if the man's memory had been distorted by the harsh blow, well, that was just a lucky bonus.

Shiro rapidly sonidoed back to the Academy. After unceremoniously dumping Hokkaido near where Shiro had first accidentally tackled him, Shiro sonidoed back through the forest, where Old Man and King were waiting.

* * *

Ichigo restlessly paced the perimeter of the clearing, waiting for Shiro to return. It was currently 4:00, about an hour after Zangetsu sensed Shiro attack an unknown person or thing. However, Zangetsu refused to disclose any details, and as a result Ichigo became increasingly tense and irritable. Suddenly, the undergrowth rustled and a windblown-looking Shiro stepped into view. Scratch windblown, Shiro looked like he had been through a hurricane. Random bits of leaf and twig were twisted into his snowy hair. His white shihakusho was torn and scratches mottled every square inch of exposed skin. Not at all reassured by Shiro's appearance, Ichigo began marching in Shiro's direction, opening his mouth with the intention of scolding/yelling/ranting at Shiro. However, he was cut off by a look from Zangetsu. Zangetsu strode over to the hollow and they began conversing in low tones, occasionally casting glances in Ichigo's direction. A vein popped in Ichigo's head. They were ignoring him. Or at the very least keeping him in the dark. And that just ticked Ichigo off.

"HEY!!! WILL SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

* * *

Shiro stumbled into the clearing. He knew he must have looked like hell. When one is being chased through a thick forest, one doesn't pay any special attention to where one is going (except to prevent oneself from being knocked for a loop if one clotheslines a low-hanging branch). Ergo, one usually garners numerous scratches, torn clothes, and bits of the native flora in one's hair.

Shiro glanced around the clearing. He noticed Old Man Zangetsu and King standing under a clump of trees off to the side. King looked absolutely livid.

But that wasn't what caught Shiro's attention.

The clearing's size had doubled. It was obvious where King had been practicing his kido. Craters the size of trucks were scattered along the north and west. Some were still smoking. The rubble from the craters was spread throughout the clearing, giving it a speckled look. Felled and blackened trees lay haphazardly in the new area of the clearing. Some looked like they had been blasted apart from the inside. Shiro had a bad feeling that Old Man would eventually want him to help Ichigo move the Sekki-Sekki to encompass the new area of the clearing.

Shiro refocused on Old Man and King. He could enquire about the story behind the craters later.

King started stomping over to Shiro, opening his mouth and obviously about to deliver a verbal lashing. As King drew nearer, Shiro noticed the smoky smell that lingered around King and the scorch marks on what was left of his Academy uniform.

Old Man Zangetsu halted King's advance with a firm look. He approached Shiro and began interrogating him in quiet tones.

"_Who did you attack?_"

"**The hoho sensei. Was his name Hokkaido?**"

"_Why did you attack him?_"

"**He started chasing me 'cause he felt my hollow reiatsu.**"

"_You didn't cause any lasting damage, did you?_"

"**I only hit him in the back of the head. He's out cold. And I certainly won't complain if he has trouble remembering our encounter. I hope King is of the same opinion.**" Shiro cast a glance at said Shinigami.

Whatever Zangetsu was going to say next was cut off by King's loud exclamation.

"HEY!!! WILL SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

* * *

Well, here's chapter 10. I got a new writing notebook for my birthday and it's so much better to write in than my old composition book. Hopefully I'll be able to update more often now.

Oh, and I know y'all were complaining about the omake in chapter 5 being _before_ the actual chapter, not after. I fixed that, and so now the omake of chapter 5 is after the actual chapter.

I bet you were expecting a description of Ichigo's training in the clearing, weren't you? Don't worry, that'll happen in the next chapter.

Zangetsu has a rather straightforward method of questioning, doesn't he?

(1) It's the cloak used by Urahara to sneak out and rescue Hiyori during the Vizard incident a century before the main canon. For the purposes of this fanfic, it was left behind in the confusion, and Mayuri found it. Need I say more?

(2) Hokkaido didn't just raid the 12th squad's storage. He raided their database, too. Not many Shinigami knew what Arrancar were in those days. It was classified information, meant for captain and lieutenant eyes only. And perhaps some of the higher seated officers were told, as well.

-HM


	11. A Story Told in Black Part 1

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Bleach.

Shiro: **Hi**

Ichigo's thoughts: _Hi_

Zangetsu: /_Hi_/

* * *

Chapter 11 – A Story Told in Black Part I

_Zangetsu strode over to the hollow and they began conversing in low tones, occasionally casting glances in Ichigo's direction. A vein popped in Ichigo's head. They were ignoring him. Or at the very least keeping him in the dark. And that just ticked Ichigo off._

"_HEY!!! WILL SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"_

Zangetsu shifted his attention from Shiro to Ichigo. Why couldn't his wielder show any patience?

Come to think of it, Ichigo had _never_ shown much sense, or patience.

* * *

-Flashback to a quiet moment in Ichigo's inner world-

_Zangetsu stared upward at the blue sky. It was a deep blue, with black clouds floating by driven by a strong wind. Ichigo was resting in the 4__th__ Squad's barracks, recovering from the injuries he received from Byakuya Kuchiki and Souske Aizen. Surprisingly, the hollow was lurking elsewhere, so he wasn't bothering Zangetsu either. The free time gave Zangetsu an excuse to do some deep thinking. Zangetsu had a lot on his mind, as he was contemplating the "what if's" of the previous week's events. Ichigo's personality outlined his normal reactions to different challenges that were presented to him, and one of Zangetsu's main "what if's" was 'What if Ichigo had a different personality? Would events have turned out better… or worse?'._

_Ichigo always rushed in without a second thought. He was extremely impatient and had a strong-as-steel will. Ichigo would not back down from a challenge, no matter what. Like when his wielder kept charging into battle without analyzing the situation or odds (*cough_*challenging Gin Ichimaru without knowing the existence of bankai*_cough_*challenging Aizen after the captain had hoodwinked the entire 13 Court Guard Squads while Ichigo was injured_*cough* whispered Zangetsu's subconscious (1))._

Oh, well_, Zangetsu inwardly sighed_. Impatience and stubbornness go hand-in-hand. Though not one of the greatest personality traits to have, a stubborn heart can lead to almost unfathomable bravery.

_And Ichigo had that kind of bravery._

_Anyways, Zangetsu suspected the hollow (the small sane part of him, that is) had come up with the conclusion that his king was unbelievably stubborn, had bravery that bordered on stupidity, impatient to reach his goals, and powerful enough to do something about it. Not the greatest combination, but Ichigo made up for it with his strength of heart, loyalty, and character._

_Still, strength of heart, loyalty, and character won't help much when planning attack and/or defense of a large area (aka Seireitei). If only Ichigo would exercise common sense when it came to the battlefield… _(2)

-Flashback end-

* * *

Ichigo was probably displeased (to put it mildly) about being left in the dark. He would use any means necessary to find out what was being kept from him. And his haste was a prime example of his impatience. Ichigo knew, subconsciously, that he would eventually be told that which was being hidden from him. However, Ichigo expected instant gratification of knowledge when something important occurred. Shiro's unfortunate accident fell into the category of "top priority".

"Well? Answer me!" Ichigo demanded.

Shiro blinked in annoyance, then turned to Zangetsu and said, "**You explain.**"

Typical Shiro. He never was able to hold a lengthy civil conversation with Ichigo. Instead, Shiro expressed himself through his sword and rather vile language. Zangetsu should have known Shiro would leave the explaining to him.

"I'm waiting," said Ichigo, tapping his foot impatiently.

Zangetsu sighed. "_Fine, but I forbid you to kill Shiro afterwards._"

Ichigo Immediately narrowed his eyes in suspicion. He'd kill Shiro later anyways. Oh well.

* * *

(30 minutes later)

"So let me get this straight." Ichigo began. "Shiro got lost in the forest."

Both Shiro and Zangetsu nodded.

"And you accidentally headed to Seireitei instead of the Academy."

Shiro nodded again.

"At the Academy, you accidentally run into Hokkaido, who decides to chase you."

"**Cuz he felt my hollow reiatsu, but yeah.**"

"Then you run through the forest for a half hour, trying to get rid of Hokkaido. When that fails, you decide to knock him out, and just leave him lying unconscious on the Academy grounds."

"**Yep.**"

The silence was tangible. But, of course, all silence is eventually broken.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!?!?!"

Zangetsu inwardly winced. It had been too much to hope that Ichigo would calmly accept Shiro's mistake.

Shiro was unperturbed by Ichigo's outburst, and replied cheekily, "**I made a mistake. I admit it. But if Hokkaido forgets it all, we shouldn't be worried. I'm certainly not complaining. You shouldn't, either.**"

Ichigo looked apoplectic. He opened his mouth again, fully intending to screech at Shiro loud enough to wake up Kyoraku Shusui (and that was hard enough to do when one is standing right next to the captain in question, let alone miles away).

Shiro continued on, unfazed. "**Now that my story has been told, let's hear yours. How did the clearing suddenly double in size?**"

Ichigo clamped his mouth shut. His cheeks glowed a furious red, but the rest of his face was pasty white. Shiro quietly snickered while Zangetsu rolled his eyes. Ichigo had nothing whatsoever to be embarrassed about. Really. Zangetsu himself had contributed to some of the new clearing space, and he wasn't embarrassed.

Ichigo turned to Zangetsu and asked, in a strangled voice, "Can you explain?"

Zangetsu sighed. Today just wasn't a good day. For anyone, himself included.

* * *

(6 hours previous)

"_Ah… Zangetsu? Are you sure it's… safe to let Shiro roam free?" he asked hesitantly._

_His manifested zanpakuto nodded. "_He will not directly attack anyone or indirectly lead someone here. Not while I can reasonably control him. Now, shall we get started_?__"_

Ichigo nodded reluctantly. Zangetsu knew Ichigo wouldn't enjoy a minute of the kido exercises Zangetsu had in store for his wielder. Oh, well. In any case, it would build character.

Zangetsu knelt and placed his hands on the ground. He concentrated on drawing out a piece of Ichigo's soul, shaping it into a vaguely human form, and materializing it. Unfortunately, Zangetsu was limited to materializing power-type, non-extendible zanpakuto. This was where Zangetsu's creativity came in. He could make a vague human shape using the blade as the torso, jutting extensions as arms and legs, and the hilt as the head.

The final product came out a bit rougher than Zangetsu would have liked, but it would do. Three metal dummies, stuck into the ground along the northern edge of the clearing, stood about ten meters apart from each other. Ichigo lifted an eyebrow.

"Interesting use of a zanpakuto," he commented, circling the closest dummy. He fingered the hilt/head, then pulled the zanpakuto/dummy out of the ground. He tossed it from hand to hand, testing its weight, balance, and maneuverability. He then stuck it back in the ground, chuckling, "What piece of my soul did you use to create this?"

Zangetsu gave Ichigo a quick half-smile. "_You don't need, or want, to know_."

Ichigo glared at Zangetsu and crossed his arms stubbornly. "Yes, I do."

"_Drop it. I'm not answering that question._" With that, Zangetsu summoned his shikai self from Ichigo. Said Shinigami spluttered indignantly.

"Hey!! What was that for?! And you still haven't answered my question!!"

"_The purpose of the time here right now is to train with kido. You don't need a weapon to perform kido_," Zangetsu replied, ignoring Ichigo's final statement.

Ichigo turned a pasty white at the reminder. Zangetsu inwardly chuckled. His wielder was so predictable.

Inquiry forgotten, Ichigo asked, in a steady voice, "So, what do I need to do first?"

Impressive. Ichigo was suppressing his fear. Irrational fear that came from the knowledge of imminent embarrassment was usually fairly difficult to hide.

"_Reiatsu control is an essential part of kido, so we'll start with that. I'm tired of watching your kido backfire because you exceed its breaking point_," Zangetsu said. "_Right now you unconsciously let your reiatsu pour out of you, like an open faucet. So when you need more power, you don't just turn on the faucet. You open the valve wider. You start out with the amount necessary to do kido, but you feel you must need to use more power. So now you have more power than you need, for kido, at least. Also, what feels to you like a small amount of reiatsu could be a huge amount for others. Your own massive reiatsu numbs your reiatsu-sensing abilities. Anyways, hopefully I'll be able to teach you to be more sensitive to the reiatsu around you and how to control your torrent of reiatsu._"

Ichigo nodded, color returning to his cheeks. "I never knew that reiatsu-sensing and reiatsu-emitting were so deeply interconnected. Though I guess I should have figured, since they both deal with reiatsu. I feel like an idiot now."

"_That's why _I _am teaching _you_, not the other way around._"

"Right. So tell me, what do you want me to do?"

"_We'll start out easy. Focus your reiatsu into a small ball floating above your hand. The trick is to use only a small bit of reiatsu. Small, Ichigo. Small. I said small!"_

* * *

(15 minutes later)

Well, Ichigo could have finished the task faster. But at long last, he had done it. A small ball of blue, controlled reiatsu floated a few inches above the palm of his hand. Both Ichigo and Zangetsu were frustrated about the amount of time Ichigo had needed to do the simple task. But it was done.

"What's next?" Ichigo asked, voice strained from concentration and frustration.

Zangetsu had Ichigo manipulate the ball of reiatsu in many different ways: first moving the ball side-to-side and up and down, then expanding and shrinking the ball, then thrusting it away and drawing it back. One time Ichigo completely lost control of the ball; it sped into a nearby tree and caused said tree to explode, scattering scorched wood chips everywhere. Finally, after 45 minutes, Zangetsu called for a stop. Perhaps even the little bit of progress shown would improve Ichigo's kido. For the next 15 minutes, Ichigo attempted to perform decent kido on the dummies. It wasn't a pitiful attempt, but it wasn't great, either. About halfway through, Zangetsu sensed Shiro heading for Seireitei. Zangetsu forced down his unease and Shiro was soon forgotten. Finally, Zangetsu couldn't stand Ichigo's abominable kido anymore and he told Ichigo to take a small break. Discouraged and downbeat, Ichigo slumped against a tree at the end of the clearing. Apparently Ichigo hadn't improved enough with reiatsu control to make a significant impact on his kido. It was to be expected, since there was so little improvement with reiatsu control.

Zangetsu leaned against a tree at the other end of the clearing out of his wielder's sight. He had to get alone to think. Why was his wielder having so much trouble with basic reiatsu control? Any good Shinigami should be able to do those exercises very, very easily. And Ichigo was one of the best — power-wise. He was captain class; above-captain class when he used Shiro's power. So why was this so difficult for him?

Could the problem lie in the fact that Ichigo was a Vizard? No, the other Vizards were still perfectly capable of stellar kido. Could it be because Ichigo was only a substitute Shinigami and not the real thing? That he still had a living body? That he was still human?

If that was the case, then was Ichigo's connection with his body screwing up his ability to control reiatsu? If so, then learning reiatsu control the normal Shinigami way might not be best.

Great. Now Zangetsu had to create a new system of reiatsu control that Ichigo could use easily. Time to do some brainstorming.

* * *

(Ichigo)

Ichigo leaned on the tree, discouraged. Why couldn't he control his reiatsu? _Why was it so hard?!_ Every single time Ichigo tried to control the ball of reiatsu, it taxed him tremendously. Ichigo was forced to focus solely on the ball at all times. Any other thought or distraction would cause him to lose control of the ball; the distractions included worries about keeping his true identity and power secret, the problem of getting back home, even just talking.

Ichigo was disturbed over his lack of control. Did this mean he had a Shinigami's sword and strength, but not the reiatsu control necessary for kido and healing? Did this mean Ichigo was crippled? But if Ichigo was crippled in kido, shouldn't that mean he should also be crippled in zanjutsu, hakuda, and hoho?

Ichigo shook his head, clearing his scrambled, murky thoughts. He couldn't have any doubt of his abilities. Doubt led to weakness. And with Aizen's attack looming on the horizon, weakness meant death. This was why Ichigo was doing his best to improve his reiatsu control and kido. Any advantage, any skill, any power Ichigo could obtain would help him and others survive when Aizen struck. This time in the past was the perfect opportunity to train in peace without the threat of war approaching. Aizen would be defeated when he got back. If he got back.

Ichigo suppressed his muddled thoughts when Zangetsu entered his peripheral vision. Standing, Ichigo turned to meet his zanpakuto.

"_I want to test an experiment. Come over here, please._"

Ichigo shivered slightly, but obeyed Zangetsu. If only his zanpakuto knew how much he had sounded just like Mayuri Kurotsuchi just then…

* * *

(Zangetsu)

"_I want to try out an experiment. Come over here, please._"

Ichigo stood and approached Zangetsu. As he drew closer, Zangetsu could see the despair, fatigue, and steely determination in his eyes. The same emotions seeped through their connection, even though both Ichigo and Zangetsu had put up walls to shield one from the other's thoughts.

"So, what's this experiment you want to try?" Ichigo asked warily. (3)

"_I believe that your attachment to your living body is screwing up your ability to control reiatsu the normal Shinigami method. So I want to see if you can control your reiatsu in a different way than most Shinigami._"

Shock was reflected in Ichigo's eyes before he quickly masked the emotion. "My body is crippling my ability to control reiatsu?"

Zangetsu nodded slowly. "_But the good news is I may have come up with a different method of reiatsu control that you may or may not be able to use._"

"So tell me what to do," Ichigo said firmly. "I'm not making much progress with the regular method."

"_Alright. Start by creating a large ball of reiatsu._"

Ichigo quickly formed his reiatsu into a ball. It floated serenely in front of Ichigo. Zangetsu raised an eyebrow. The ball was at least ten feet in diameter.

"_Good. Now condense the ball so it's the same size as the original ball we worked with._"

Now Ichigo took more time to do the task. However, it had been done quicker than Ichigo's attempts at the original tasks. A small ball of blue reiatsu floated a few inches above Ichigo's palm. The ball glowed white-hot and small white flares of reiatsu danced on its surface. Zangetsu suspected it would burn Ichigo's hand if his wielder attempted to touch it.

Without Zangetsu's instructions, Ichigo began manipulating the ball. It zoomed in tight circles around him, then began soaring around the clearing. Once, it passed too close to a tree and said tree burst into white-hot flames.

Zangetsu was extremely pleased. He had found a way for his wielder to control reiatsu without too much difficulty. Now Zangetsu had to find a way to incorporate this new form of reiatsu control into kido.

* * *

(Ichigo)

Ichigo allowed himself a small smile. He had done it! This new form of reiatsu control was so ridiculously easy for him; it was almost laughable he was struggling so much before. Before, Ichigo could only use a sliver of his power. It was like letting only a trickle of water through a dam that might burst at any time. And then Ichigo had to manipulate that trickle without letting the dam burst. Now Ichigo could open the floodgates wide open and use the entire torrent of water that came flooding out. Granted, it was fairly difficult to condense the reiatsu (and keep said reiatsu condensed), and the condensed reiatsu had a tendency to fly around too fast (and was extremely difficult to brake), but it was a whole lot easier to use than the other method of reiatsu control.

Suddenly a thought stuck Ichigo. How would the new method of reiatsu control work with kido?

* * *

This chapter was so hard to get through, as was chapter 12. Speaking of chapter 12, I have it written out, just not typed up. Review and I will post it faster!!!

I know many of you were looking for comic relief in this chapter. I myself was planning to make this chapter a comic relief chapter. However, it never turned into a funny chapter. No flames about the seriousness. Please. There is a reason why this fanfic is not labeled "humor". I did make this chapter longer to make up for the lack of humor.

(1) Even though Zangetsu is a zanpakuto, he has a very human-like personality. So why can't he have his own thoughts and feelings?

(2) I'm sorry if I bored you to tears with that, but it needed to be done. Zangetsu is a quiet, thoughtful type of person, so I needed his viewpoint about Ichigo and the situations he gets himself into, and why.

(3) I do mean warily, not wearily. It's annoying when other authors confuse the two. Just like they confuse their and there.

Press the little button below, please!!

-HM


	12. A Story Told in Black Part 2

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Bleach.

Shiro: **Hi**

Ichigo's thoughts: _Hi_

Zangetsu: /_Hi_/

* * *

Chapter 12 – A Story Told in Black Part II

_Zangetsu was extremely pleased. He had found a way for his wielder to control reiatsu without too much difficulty. Now Zangetsu had to find a way to incorporate this new form of reiatsu control into kido._

After watching Ichigo manipulate the ball for a little longer, Zangetsu said, "_Ichigo, continue to manipulate that ball while I do experimentations with kido over there._" Zangetsu gestured to a clump of trees on the west edge of the clearing, then paused for a moment and continued, "_Scratch that, just practice the first few hado and bakudo on the dummies. Try not to blow them up._" Zangetsu motioned to the aforementioned zanpakuto-turned-dummies and then stepped behind the clump of trees. There he began to experiment with the first bakudo on another dummy he created. He started by performing the bakudo the normal Shinigami way: by manipulating a trickle of reiatsu into invisible ropes to bind the dummy. After flawlessly completing the kido, Zangetsu began experimenting with the new form of reiatsu control. Though the ball of reiatsu was able to be manipulated, it simply was not compatible with normal Shinigami kido. Every single time Zangetsu used the new reiatsu control, the kido backfired as its breaking point was surpassed. Once or twice, Zangetsu's concentration was broken through when he heard explosions from beyond the ring of the trees. After a half hour of experimentation, Zangetsu stepped out to inform Ichigo of the time; the sun was positioned directly over the clearing. Zangetsu raised an eyebrow at the destruction. Three craters the size of trucks occupied the space the dummies used to be. Apparently Zangetsu wasn't the only one doing experiments.

"Oh! There you are, Zangetsu! I kinda trashed the first three dummies you made, so can you make some more?" Ichigo inquired quickly. He had appeared behind Zangetsu and was using an 'I'm-so-innocent' voice to speak to Zangetsu. Apparently Ichigo thought Zangetsu should be furious.

"_I'll make more dummies __**after **__you have lunch. It's noon now._"

"So Shiro should be coming back soon," Ichigo mused, walking over to the bag that contained his lunch. Zangetsu closed his eyes and attempted to pinpoint Shiro's location. It appeared that the Sekki-Sekki was messing with his senses again, since Shiro seemed to be on the fringes of Seireitei. Zangetsu opened his eyes, then frowned. Would the Sekki-Sekki hamper his ability to sense if Shiro attacked someone?

"Hey, Zangetsu," Ichigo said, tearing Zangetsu from his thoughts, "Why is this training session so relaxed? During bankai training, you didn't stop to let me eat or use the facilities."

"_We were pressed for time during bankai training. Besides, right now I still haven't discovered a way to incorporate the new form of reiatsu control in kido, so I don't know what to teach you._"

"So your experiments were causing all those booms I heard from behind the trees. I was beginning to wonder."

"_I heard some pretty impressive explosions myself._"

"Anyways," Ichigo said, hastily cutting Zangetsu off, "What if we need to create a new form of kido to match the new form of reiatsu control?"

"_I'd rather avoid that. We would need time we don't have. Right now I've been experimenting to incorporate the new reiatsu control into existing kido. I obviously haven't been successful yet. What about you? I don't think you spent all that time practicing the normal kido._"

"I've been experimenting with creating a new kido system altogether," Ichigo admitted sheepishly.

Zangetsu raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. After hastily finishing the bland meal, Ichigo stood, stretched, and turned to Zangetsu in the course of five seconds.

"So, will you make more dummies for me?"

Zangetsu nodded, then created five new dummies for Ichigo to work with. They still looked more like zanpakuto than dummies.

Zangetsu began working behind the clump of trees again. He was becoming frustrated since the same results: backfired kido and trashed dummies. Explosions were heard from behind the protective shelter of the trees.

Around 1:30, Ichigo called out, "Zangetsu! I need more dummies!"

This time Zangetsu created an even ten dummies. He was tired of creating the dummies and the distraction proved enough to break Zangetsu's focus and demolish his train of thought.

So it was a complete accident when Zangetsu actually succeeded in synchronizing the existing kido with the new reiatsu control.

Zangetsu blinked in momentary confusion. He had gotten so many negative results that it took a moment for the fact that he had finally gotten a positive result to sink in.

Once Zangetsu regained his composure, he began analyzing the reiatsu: its strong and weak points, its shape, the power level, etc. After just a few moments, the kido backfired spectacularly. Ten square feet of land were flattened, and debris gouged huge gashes in the ground.

After the dust settled, Ichigo called, "Spectacular failure, Zangetsu!"

The insult (or was it a hidden compliment?...) fell on deaf ears.

_Well, _Zangetsu thought, _it was a start._

* * *

(1½ hours later… 3:00)

Ever since the first not-quite success, Zangetsu had made enormous progress in his experiments. He had flawlessly synchronized the first few bakudo and hado spells. Anything above bakudo number 10 and hado number 8 was unstable, at best. Twenty-five and above for both were, as of late, lost causes. Not a single successful experiment had occurred with the mid-level kido spells.

Unfortunately, most of the protective trees around Zangetsu had been blasted away, leaving scorch marks on the ground and blackened wood chips everywhere.

_Time to begin tutoring Ichigo, _Zangetsu thought. He turned to re-enter the main clearing.

And stopped dead.

* * *

(Ichigo)

Well, it was 3:00, judging from the sun's position. Ichigo lowered his smoking hands.

_I'll have to come up with a good excuse to explain away these burns on my hands at the Academy._

Ichigo garnered much less success than Zangetsu. He had only created three new stable offensive kido spells. There were five more unstable offensive spells and one unstable binding spell. Ichigo had no idea what to call the new kido spells, since they were so different from existing hado and bakudo spells. The burns on his hands were from backfiring kido spells. Apparently, when the new system of kido backfired, it didn't just obliterate the area surrounding the spell; it also physically harmed the user.

Maybe Ichigo could use the excuse of backfiring kido. Even though normal kido rarely hurt the user, the excuse would be easy enough to believe since he was so terrible with the normal kido.

A flash of color other than green or brown flickered at the edge of Ichigo's vision. Turning, Ichigo saw Zangetsu, who was reentering the main clearing.

Unexpectedly, Zangetsu stopped dead.

Was it because of the fact that, because of Ichigo's experiments, the clearing had suddenly become much larger? The clearing had been enlarged by almost half the original clearing. That would have been a good reason to stop dead, if Zangetsu was a normal person. But Zangetsu wasn't a normal person. He might have hesitated slightly, but he wouldn't have stopped dead from a small area of destroyed forest.

Ichigo glanced at the clump of trees Zangetsu had been practicing behind. Yep, Zangetsu wouldn't have stopped dead from destruction. There were only four trees left for cover out of the original eleven (five, if you counted a burned-out shell that was still barely standing).

Ichigo shifted his attention back to Zangetsu. His zanpakuto had begun to rapidly cross the clearing to Ichigo. He had a stony expression on his face.

With a start, Ichigo remembered Shiro was supposed to have come back to the clearing three hours ago. Ichigo felt a twinge of fear.

What had happened to (or because of) Shiro?

_And why did we both forget about Shiro?!_

* * *

(Zangetsu)

How the HELL could he have forgotten about Shiro?! Sure, he had been wrapped up in his experimentations, but that was no reason to completely forget the hollow's existence.

Zangetsu was feeling a wide range of emotions he usually didn't experience. Annoyance at himself. Frustration. Anger. Anxiousness. Prickles of fear were felt through Zangetsu's connection with Ichigo. Fear of what happened. Fear for their identity. Fear of the discovery of their secrets.

Ichigo crossed the rest of the distance between himself and Zangetsu. Worry was etched into his face. "What happened? Does it have anything to do with the fact that Shiro's three hours late?"

Zangetsu nodded. "_Unfortunately. I sensed him attack someone just now._"

Ichigo swore violently and sprinted toward the edge of the clearing. However, Zangetsu was faster. Ichigo skidded a stop in front of his zanpakuto. His face grew murderous.

"Let me go, Zangetsu."

"_No._"

"Let me go. Move."

"_No._"

"MOVE, ZANGETSU!!"

"_No!! If you thought about it rationally, Shiro might have attacked for self-defense, or to keep his identity hidden. We don't even know if he attacked a Shinigami or a hollow, since the Sekki-Sekki is doing a fine job of blocking all other reiatsu. Wait until he comes back!_"

"That should have been three hours ago, Zangetsu!"

"_He wouldn't dare stay away. He knows I would have sensed him attack. Besides, he must have a good explanation for all these events._"

"I don't care! I want to go drag him back NOW!"

"_Ichigo Kurosaki, I order you to stay in this clearing until Shiro returns. Work on your kido, NOW. That's an order._"

If looks could kill, Zangetsu would have gone through a death equivalent to being chopped into bits, eaten by a rabid hollow, then traveling inside the rabid hollow until said hollow fell into an active volcano.

After discovering intimidation would not work on Zangetsu, Ichigo stalked off to pout/take out his anger on the remaining zanpakuto-turned-dummies. Zangetsu shook his head. His wielder could be so childish at times.

* * *

(1 hour later, 4:00)

Zangetsu glanced at the sun. Judging from its position, it was 4:00, an hour since Shiro had attacked. Zangetsu had become increasingly agitated as time went by, but he still wore an expressionless mask on his face. There was no need for his wielder to know Zangetsu was just as nervous as Ichigo was.

Ichigo had abandoned all attempts at kido long ago and was now furiously pacing the perimeter of the clearing. He had been unable to concentrate at all, so the northern edge of the clearing had been completely transformed from incredibly powerful explosions caused by backfiring kido. The original clearing had doubled in size. The new half of the clearing was riddled with craters and debris; it was the perfect place for training to take advantage of a rough terrain. The new area would have to be enclosed within Sekki-Sekki rock; Ichigo and Shiro could perform that labor again.

Zangetsu used these thoughts to help distract himself from the passing time. It helped. A little bit.

Suddenly, the undergrowth rustled and Shiro stumbled into the clearing. He looked terrible. His hair was decorated with leaves and twigs and numerous shallow scratches disfigured his chalky skin. His white shihakusho was only in slightly better condition than Ichigo's Academy uniform. At least Shiro wasn't covered in burn marks.

Relief, slightly dampened by Shiro's windblown appearance, flooded through Zangetsu. It was a good thing Ichigo wasn't paying attention to their link. Judging from the look on his face, feeling relief from Zangetsu would further irritate him. Shiro apparently wasn't paying attention to the link, either, since Shiro would have glared at Zangetsu had he felt the zanpakuto's relief. Indifference radiated from Shiro, which meant the hollow was fatigued. Shiro was only indifferent when he was fatigued.

Ichigo began stalking towards Shiro. Zangetsu stopped him with a stern look. Subtle nudging through the mental link didn't hurt, either.

Zangetsu was quickly at Shiro's side. Hopefully the interrogation would yield informative results.

* * *

(End Flashback)

"_And you know what happened from there,_" Zangetsu finished.

By this time Shiro had settled himself comfortably on the ground, his hands behind his head and a semi-bored look on his face. When Zangetsu finished speaking, Shiro began chuckling softly. It soon escalated into full-blown laughter.

Ichigo blinked in mild confusion, then asked, "What's so funny?"

Shiro smothered his laughter enough to choke out, "**I never knew Zangetsu had the ability to be as destructive as you with kido!**" Shiro collapsed into giggles (more like shrieks) again.

A tick mark appeared on Ichigo's forehead. "Are you implying something?" he asked through clenched teeth.

Shiro grinned nastily. "**Even if you and the Old Man have discovered a new way to control reiatsu, I still say you suck at kido.**"

The tick mark on Ichigo's forehead grew larger. "So you're saying, even with the new reiatsu control, I'll still never be able to master any form of kido whatsoever?"

There was a malicious glint in Shiro's eye when he answered. "**Yep, pretty much.**"

Ichigo shunpoed to Zangetsu, grabbed his zanpakuto, and attacked Shiro. Shiro made a sound somewhere between a chuckle and a yelp and scrambled away from the blade that had been about to slice him in half. During the few seconds between Ichigo's attacks, Shiro materialized the white Zangetsu. The two began to spar, but Zangetsu noticed neither contestant was using their full power. Even after Shiro began taunting Ichigo by throwing insults (did Zangetsu just see Shiro stick his tongue out at Ichigo?!) at his king, it was plain as day to Zangetsu that both Ichigo and Shiro were weary. Zangetsu shook his head despairingly as he saw Shiro give Ichigo the famous one-fingered salute. If Ichigo was childish, Shiro was an insane, stubborn idiot with a massive ego. Why was he stuck with the two most immature beings in Soul Society? Both Shiro and Ichigo were obviously exhausted, yet both were too stubborn to admit it. Zangetsu frowned. Both were above-captain-class individuals. They shouldn't be tiring out so quickly.

Zangetsu shook his head to clear his thoughts and glanced up at the sun. It was time to be heading back to the Academy.

Zangetsu dematerialized his zanpakuto self and white doppelganger. Ichigo cried out indignantly at the loss of his weapon. Shiro just sent Zangetsu a death glare.

"_Let's get back to the Academy. It's getting late._"

"But**-**"

"**Zangetsu-**"

"_No buts. You're both exhausted. Besides, it will be suspicious if we are out here any longer._"

"**Half the other students will be out later than we will!**"

"_Half the other students aren't under scrutiny from the teachers._"

"Zangetsu's right. We should head back," Ichigo said wearily.

Shiro shot Ichigo a betrayed look. "**Not you too, King!**"

Ichigo ignored Shiro. "Both of you, get back in my inner world, now."

Zangetsu affixed Shiro with a steady gaze, pressuring him through their mental link to do as Ichigo asked. Shiro shot another death glare towards Zangetsu before disappearing into Ichigo's inner world. Zangetsu immediately followed suit.

It took two hours to return to the Academy, double the time of the initial journey. Yet another indication of Ichigo's fatigue.

Ichigo took the long route back to his dorm in an attempt to avoid unwanted, awkward questions about the state of his clothes (which were ripped to shreds with large scorch marks and a smoky smell) or his burned hands.

But Shiro's bad luck seemed to have transferred to Ichigo, since the Academy was where both ran into… unfortunate… complications.

"Ichigo, there you are! I was looking all over – what the hell happened to you?! Did you run through a forest fire or something? Or did you get on Kiyosugi-sensei's bad side again? Ooh, that cut on your arm looks nasty!"

Kaede Kuromizu stood framed between the two buildings of the alley Ichigo had been creeping through, the last rays of the sun illuminating her figure. She would have looked beautiful, and Ichigo would have noticed she was acting a little too friendly to him, had he not been so startled by her appearance. Then Ichigo was appalled by his carelessness (he should have sensed her reiatsu approaching!) and afraid (Kaede would freak if she knew Ichigo's activities that day – sparring with one's inner hollow using bankai then beginning to develop a new kido system aren't normal Academy student activities).

Kaede leaned closer. "You ok, Ichigo? Your reiatsu seems… off."

Ichigo swore violently and did a U-turn, leaving behind a very confused Kaede.

"What was that about?"

* * *

YES!!!!!!!!!!!! IT'S SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I now have lots of free time on my hands, and hopefully I'll be able to post chapters more often!!!!!!!!! HOORAYZ!!!!!!!

I just wanted to let y'all know that I have officially registered for beta-ing! I have beta-ed all the previous chapters myself, so if you like the quality of the previous chapters, please give me a chance to beta your stories!

I went over chapter one and realized the writing was extremely childish. I redid chapter one, for all of those who are interested. Hopefully the quality has increased.

Oh, and I have a poll set up on my profile, for those of you who are interested. What do you want me to do after I finish Twisted Time?

-HM


	13. Stepping on Thin Ice

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Bleach.

Shiro: **Hi**

Ichigo's thoughts: _Hi_

Zangetsu: /_Hi_/

* * *

Chapter 13 – Stepping on Thin Ice

BONG BONG BONG BONG.

Ichigo groaned and slowly opened his eyes. After glancing through a crack in the blinds barely covering his window, Ichigo rolled over and buried his head in his pillow. The sun was low on the horizon, which meant it was only six or seven in the morning.

The alarm had been recently installed to ensure students would get up and out of bed. It was a good method to force the students to be awake and alert enough to pay attention in class, since it was so loud and annoying. Apparently there had been one too many students falling asleep or missing from class because they had slept in too late.

_Why, oh __**why**__, did the Academy have to set the alarm so early? Classes don't start until 8:30!!_

/_Get up, Ichigo. Getting to your classes early won't kill you._/

_Oh, quiet, Zangetsu… I wanna sleep…_

/_I will not let you fall back asleep, nor will I leave you alone until you're up and out of bed. Up, Ichigo!_/

_Fine, fine, I'm up, I'm up. Where's Shiro?_

/_Sleeping._/

_Why does Shiro get to sleep, but I don't?! OI, SHIRO, GET UP!!_

**Shut the hell up, strawberry!! I'm tryin' to sleep over here!!**

_Make me, Shiro-chan!!_

**DON'T CALL ME THAT!!!!**

If either Shiro or Ichigo had been paying any attention to Zangetsu, they would have noticed him groan and rub his temples.

* * *

Ichigo collapsed into a chair at the back of the cafeteria. It was breakfast time, and the ceaseless chatter was giving Ichigo a headache. Ichigo began to eat the food on his tray slowly and methodically, not caring that it tasted worse than usual.

Ichigo winced as his burns stung when he gripped his chopsticks too hard. He hoped no one would notice the bandages covering his burned hands. And arms. And legs. And chest. Thankfully, the Academy uniform hid most of the bandages from view.

The bandages had been made from Ichigo's ruined Academy uniform from the previous day (at least the parts that weren't scorched and didn't smell too bad). The nurses at the infirmary would be mighty suspicious if Ichigo walked in with several serious cuts and burns or if a large supply of their bandages suddenly went missing.

Someone dropped into the chair beside Ichigo. Whoever it was had piled their plate high with rice, pastries, and… was that an American style waffle Ichigo saw?

"Good morning, Ichigo-kun!" Kaede said cheerfully, cutting into her waffle. Ichigo simply grunted in reply. Why was Kaede being so friendly, anyway?

"Not a morning person, huh?" Ichigo answered with a yawn.

After a few moments of silence, Kaede said, "Hey, did you hear the news? Hokkaido-sensei was found unconscious on the Academy grounds yesterday afternoon!"

Ichigo choked on his rice and began hacking loudly. Kaede looked at him with concern. "You ok?" After hearing no response, Kaede pounded him on the back to help dislodge the rice obstructing Ichigo's windpipes. After Ichigo recovered, he croaked, "How badly was he hurt?"

"I believe the nurses in the infirmary said that he had a concussion and a few shallow scratches, like he was being chased through a dense forest."

"But chased by who or what, I wonder?" Ichigo mused, while inwardly sending a death glare at Shiro.

"I dunno. Whatever attacked Hokkaido-sensei must have been extremely strong, to have knocked him out! But, since whatever attacked Hokkaido sensei had defeated him, why did it leave Hokkaido on the grounds instead of killing him?"

"Who knows?" Ichigo said, forcing an unconcerned smile on his face. "Wait – why are you being so nice to me again? I thought you were insanely jealous of my skill."

**Subtle subject change, King. Real smooth. **Sarcasm dripped from Shiro's every word.

_Shut up! Hey, aren't you supposed to be in hiding right now?_

**You're not supposed to remember that!!**

/_Shiro, you need to hide to preserve our secrets. If a talented reiatsu sensor detects you, your existence, my shikai and bankai, Ichigo's true birth date, and a myriad of other things best kept hidden will no longer be labeled 'secret'._/

**Alright, alright, fine, fine. Geez…**

_Don't forget to suppress my reiatsu, either!_

**Didn't Zangetsu take over last week?**

/_Yes, but it's your turn to suppress Ichigo's reiatsu now._/

Ichigo mentally shook his head. Was it just him, or was Shiro becoming more logical and not instinct-driven, like an Arrancar? Usually he whined and complained very loudly or used the white Zangetsu to convey his thoughts before turning to a diplomatic, logical approach. Actually, there were only a couple of other times that Ichigo could think of when his inner hollow had used diplomacy at all…

Ichigo tuned out his inner spirits' bickering and suppressed his confused thoughts before concentrating on Kaede again. He barely managed to catch the end of the speech.

"…that's why I think we've really gotten off on the wrong foot." Kaede gave Ichigo a warm smile and stuck out her hand. Ichigo shook it hesitantly.

"Alrighty, then!" Kaede grinned. "What's your first class on your revised schedule?"

Ichigo glanced at aforementioned schedule. "Hoho. I wonder who the substitute will be…"

Kaede shrugged. "Kido's my first class." After grabbing Ichigo's schedule and looking it over, she continued, "Well, since I have zanjutsu and you have kido as our second classes, I guess I'll see you at lunch." Kaede grabbed her things and ran off to get ready for kido. Ichigo stared confusedly after her. How did she finish all the food on her plate so quickly, anyway?

* * *

Hoho was extremely boring, since the substitute focused solely on theory. Ichigo already knew all of the information, so he found himself drifting off about a quarter of the way through the lesson. By the end of the period, Ichigo discovered he was not the only one who had decided to use the class time to nap. Kiyosugi was just as boring, as she focused on the theory of reiatsu control and manipulation. While the information presented was interesting and very helpful, in theory, to aid Ichigo's (and other's) abominable reiatsu control, the key words were 'in theory'. The students never tried the techniques during class, so Ichigo had no idea if he would be able to use the techniques or not. But Ichigo was just glad that they didn't have a practical class that day, as he had no idea how Kiyosugi would react to the new form of reiatsu control.

_Lunchtime,_ Ichigo thought, collapsing into a chair. _I'm halfway through the day._

"Hello, Ichigo-kun!" Kaede called cheerfully, settling herself next to Ichigo. Once again she had piled her plate high with food.

**Hey, King**, Shiro began, mischief obvious in his voice.

_Hide!_ Ichigo cut Shiro off as Kiyosugi approached the table. Shiro reluctantly obeyed. Kiyosugi gave Ichigo a long, calculating look, but she passed by without major incident. _That was too close… _Relieved, Ichigo stabbed at his beef with his chopsticks with more force than he intended to. The motion sent jabs of pain through Ichigo's hands, causing him to hiss in surprise and drop his chopsticks onto his plate. Kaede peered at him with concern, and her eyes widened when she noticed the bandages covering Ichigo's hands.

"That's right! I forgot to ask at breakfast, but why did you run from me last night? Why were you covered in wounds? And why did your reiatsu feel weird?"

Ichigo glared at her. "It's none of your business."

Kaede returned Ichigo's glare with equal force. "Of course it's my business. Why wouldn't it be?" A thought struck Kaede. "Are your wounds connected in any way, shape or form to Hokkaido's wounds?"

"Not at all," Ichigo replied firmly. But his eyes told a different story.

Kaede's eyebrows shot into her hairline as she pieced together the story. But she guessed _wrong_. "Whatever attacked Hokkaido-sensei didn't kill him because _you_ stopped it. You fought it and got all those injuries! And your reiatsu seemed off because you had picked up traces of the thing's reiatsu! Am I right? What attacked Hokkaido-sensei, anyway?"

Ichigo winced. Kaede's words struck too close to the truth for comfort. Shiro didn't kill Hokkaido because Ichigo would have killed him in return; Ichigo had fought Shiro and gotten all his present injuries from the hollow (minus the burns on his hands), though Ichigo was just sparring with the hollow and not directly protecting Hokkaido; and since Ichigo was part hollow and his reiatsu had not been suppressed by Shiro or Zangetsu in the alley, his reiatsu had felt different to Kaede. (1)

Thinking fast, Ichigo replied, "Just don't tell anyone, ok? And I couldn't see what the thing was, because it was hidden by the trees…"

Kaede gave Ichigo a mock salute, then grinned, "Your secret will follow me to my grave, o noble Warrior of Strawberries!!"

A tick mark appeared on Ichigo's forehead. "My name doesn't mean 'strawberry', damn it! It means 'one who protects'!!"

"Alright, Protector-san, since you're so…" Ichigo didn't hear the rest of Kaede's statement. He had taken his leave of her and had fled the cafeteria. He needed to regain his composure; Kaede's guesses had unnerved him more than his cool façade let on. Ichigo slumped against a maple tree in the courtyard, taking several deep breaths to help slow his pounding heart.

_The best thing to do is to just let her believe wrong. Hopefully she won't spread the rumor and just forget about it in a few days._

/_You do realize you're underestimating the memory of women, don't you?_/

_And how would you know?_

/_I had to live with Sode no Shirayuki during your first months as a Shinigami. Never EVER bring that beast back…_/

_Was she really __**that**__ bad?_

/_She was. Trust me, she was._/

_If she's anything like Rukia, I understand your pain…_

Cutting his mental connection with Zangetsu, Ichigo stood and worked out the kinks in his now-stiff muscles. Once he had gotten his rampaging emotions under control, he slid quietly into the shadows and began to creep along the edge of the courtyard. There was something he needed to check up on to help clear his guilty conscience.

* * *

Hokkaido felt like he was floating on a warm, fluffy cloud. He felt no pain, nor had any worries; he just floated peacefully in the soothing blackness… It was so warm…

Hokkaido lazily opened his eyes. He was in a white space and was lying on something very, very soft. All of a sudden, dark, chattering blobs surrounded him. He wished they would stop making such incessant noise; it was hurting his ears… One of the blobs forced something very bitter into his mouth. Hokkaido tried to spit it out, but the blob wasn't about to let him have his way. The liquid was forced down Hokkaido's throat anyway. Hokkaido coughed weakly, but immediately stopped as waves of dizziness and nausea crashed into him. He wished he could go back to the warm, dark, comfortable place…

"Hokkaido-sama? Can you speak?" It took a moment for Hokkaido to realize that the blob was addressing him, and another few moments to understand what it had said.

Hokkaido forced himself to answer. "Where… am I?" His voice sounded horribly rough.

"You're in the infirmary at the Shinigami Academy." Oh, so the blobs must be the nurses.

"Do you remember anything about your attack?" another voice cut in.

Attack? Hokkaido frowned. He remembered something white with gold eyes… or was it gold with white eyes? And there was a forest, and a butcher's knife…

Hokkaido found himself unable to concentrate anymore. He resolved to think about it later, when he subconsciously knew he would be able to think clearer. But now… darkness beckoned. (2)

* * *

The head nurse glanced down at her patient. He seemed to have dropped unconscious again.

"At least he was able to speak," a trainee for the fourth squad said.

The head nurse nodded in agreement, then chased all of the chattering people away from Hokkaido. The poor man needed undisturbed rest.

"How long do you think Hokkaido-san will be here?" the trainee asked.

"A week, perhaps. Maybe less, if we are diligent at making sure the reiatsu treatments are administered according to schedule. And the more reiatsu you are able to push into his body to enhance the healing process, the faster he will be out of our hair."

The trainee nodded and, taking the not-so-subtle hint, settled herself next to Hokkaido and began focusing her reiatsu into her fingers, forcing it from her fingertips into Hokkaido's body. A soft sky blue glow surrounded her hands as the healing kido began to take effect.

Unseen by both the head nurse and the trainee, a dark figure detached itself from the shadows and fled the infirmary before crossing the grounds and settling itself under an isolated maple tree in the courtyard.

* * *

Ichigo leaned against the maple tree, sighing with relief. At least Hokkaido's injuries weren't permanently damaging…

**The longer he stays in the infirmary, the better. Hokkaido's too nosy for his own good. And before you say anything, I'm not in hiding 'cause there's no one around.**

_Paranoid much?_

"Hey, Ichigo!" Said Vizard-in-hiding jumped what must've been ten feet into the air before mentally shoving his hollow into hiding. To his surprise, Shiro didn't put up any resistance at all.

Ichigo turned around and blinked in surprise. "Rukia."

Rukia punched him on the shoulder. "Is that any way to greet a friend?" Nevertheless, she sat down next to Ichigo, setting her lunch tray on the ground.

"It took you that long to get your food?" Ichigo asked incredulously. "Just how long was the line, anyway?"

"You don't wanna know. For some reason, they were understaffed today. Anyway, have you seen Renji?"

Ichigo shook his head. "I haven't seen him at all today…"

Rukia's eyes glazed over slightly as she peered into the distance. "Hmm…" Her gaze refocused on Ichigo. "Hey, where were you yesterday? I couldn't find you anywhere!"

Ichigo inwardly winced. _She was looking for me?_ Aloud, he said, "Solitary training."

"Ah. Can I come next time? I hear you're prodigious in zanjutsu, hakuda and hoho, so I'd like to watch you train," Rukia faltered, then continued hesitantly, "And maybe pick up a bit of your fighting style…"

"Does the word 'solitary' have any meaning to you at all?" Ichigo asked, slightly amused.

Rukia looked hurt for a moment, but quickly hid it behind an unreadable mask. "What's your next class?" she asked, hoping to break the tension between herself and Ichigo.

Ichigo glanced at his schedule, grimacing when he saw his first class after lunch. "Reiatsu control. Ugh."

Rukia grinned at her friend's obvious dislike for the class, then her eyes drifted to the clock mounted above the cafeteria doors. "Crap, it's 12:55!! We only have five minutes to get ready for our next class!!" Rukia chucked the remains of her lunch into the nearest trash can and raced off towards her next class. Ichigo sighed.

_Taking a reiatsu control class is kind of pointless now, isn't it?_

/_Still, it won't hurt you to try and learn normal Shinigami reiatsu control._/

_Zangetsu, I'm everything __**but**__ normal._

/_…Point taken._/

* * *

The reiatsu control class was uneventful. The teacher just introduced herself (Chikako Kimoto) and listed her expectations of what the freshmen should be able to do by the end of that year. _Why _she needed two hours to do this, Ichigo didn't know. They would learn how to identify the different forms of reiatsu, how to suppress their own reiatsu, and how to wield it effectively in battle (if one wastes their reiatsu needlessly, they will be unable to endure long battles; one can also channel their reiatsu into their arms, legs, and zanpakuto to increase their power). (3) Ichigo noticed Izuru and Momo were present for the class, but Renji was nowhere to be seen.

In zanjutsu, the only thing Ichigo learned was that zanjutsu theory was pointless and incredibly boring. Ichigo already knew all of the material Ikoto was preaching about by heart; hell, it had been pounded into him by Urahara before entering the Soul Society and by Zangetsu during bankai training.

Ichigo's final class, healing, was almost exactly like reiatsu control. The teacher, Yuka Morishita, was a retired member of the 4th squad. She was very lively and had a very commanding voice, but Ichigo still didn't see why introductions and covering course aims took up an entire period… Healing was a class that taught students how to infuse their reiatsu into another's body to speed up the healing process. They'd also learn, in extensive detail, all the delicate parts of the human body, as well as symptoms for certain illnesses and injuries not visible to the naked eye. Ichigo noticed that Izuru and Momo were taking this class, as well (he didn't look for Renji, since Renji wasn't taking healing in the first place).

Needless to say, Ichigo was extremely glad when classes were over. Ichigo returned to the dorms with the intention of taking a nap before dinner to help relieve the headache that had slowly intensified during the day. Since no teachers were present, Shiro found no reason to continue hiding. The only student skilled enough to sense him was a 7th year girl (Ichigo only knew about her because he had heard the rumors of the reiatsu–reading prodigy from his fellow freshmen), and girls weren't allowed in boys' dorms, and vice-versa.

**So, how were things in the torture chamber?**

_Dreadfully boring. There wasn't a single practical class today._

/_The teachers are concerned for the well-being of their students. Think about it from their perspective; only an opponent with the level of a seated-officer could have hurt Hokkaido. And more than a few of the students here would be hopelessly outclassed by the lowest of hollows._/

_Well, most of the 5__th__ years and older might be able to defend themselves reasonably against a low level hollow…_

All other mental conversation was cut off when a figure came hobbling down the hallway toward Ichigo. Ichigo whirled around and made a grab for Zangetsu's hilt, but his hand closed only around empty air. Ichigo sighed with relief and relaxed as he recognized the familiar head of red, spiky hair. His wartime reflexes had not been dulled at all, even though the atmosphere of the Academy was friendly and tranquil. (4)

"Jeez, Renji, you scared me half to death…" Ichigo paused as he noticed the unsteadiness in his friend's steps. Ichigo immediately strode up to his friend. "Hey, Renji, what's…" Ichigo trailed off as he noticed the scent of wine on Renji's breath.

_It's our second week since entering the Academy, and Renji's already drunk?! For crying out loud… What was his room number again? 534! That's it!_

Grabbing Renji's arm, Ichigo dragged the future lieutenant down the hall and up several flights of stairs to his dorm room. Ichigo was extremely relieved to find the door unlocked.

After guiding Renji to his bed, Ichigo said, "Now sleep till you're sober, you idiot."

Abruptly, Renji reached out and grabbed Ichigo's arm. His grip was surprisingly strong. Ichigo tried to pry Renji's fingers from his arm, but to no avail.

"Rukia…"

Ichigo tried harder to force Renji to let go of him, but Renji's grip only tightened.

"Rukia… I wanna tell you something…"

Ichigo stopped trying to remove Renji's hand. What was Renji trying to say?

"I… lo…" Apparently, Renji's sudden burst of energy ran out, since his hand flopped limply onto the bed and he began to softly snore.

After closing the door to Renji's door, Ichigo started to snicker uncontrollably.

**What?**

_Oh, man… This is great blackmail material!!_

**WHAT?!**

_Didn't you hear Renji? It sounded like he was about to confess his love for Rukia or something like that when he collapsed…_

Shiro's shrill laughter echoed throughout Ichigo's inner world. **Well, they do have a tendency to argue like a married couple… But for the blackmail to be most effective against Renji, it should be used on the Renji of our time. So how're we gonna get back?**

Blackmail and headache forgotten, Ichigo discussed with his inner spirits his theories of the nature of the stone that transported them to this time, how they could activate it again to return to the time stream (5), how to actually get to their own time once inside the time stream, and what the effects of the time paradox (6) would be when they returned. The conversation took up the remainder of the evening, so Ichigo skipped dinner. After the discussion took more fantastical turns, Ichigo tested some of their more plausible theories on the mysterious stone that had transported them to the past, but no matter what Ichigo did, the stone would not react whatsoever.

_Oh well_, Ichigo thought, yawning, _There's always tomorrow to discuss this stuff…_

Ichigo fell asleep peacefully, unaware of the invisible net that was slowly tightening around him in the past… and the future.

* * *

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LONGER CHAPTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so sorry that this chapter took so long to publish. I was in the UK for three weeks and there's only so much you can do when you have no access to a computer. I apologize. On a lighter note, chapter 14 is already written out. The more reviews I get, the faster the chapter will go up. Please review, people. It makes me feel happy and motivated to write…

Before you get too excited, I am doing extensive work on the first nine chapters. I'm changing a few minor details so in the next chapter, IT IS NECESSARY TO READ THE LIST OF WHAT THE CHANGES WILL BE. I'll be posting the changes at the same time I post chapter 14. I'm sorry because I know this will confuse some people, but no flaming the changes. Please?

I most likely won't be posting anything new in the next week or so, since I'll be in Colorado. I'm sorry I wasn't able to give you an advance warning for the Europe trip!! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME FOR TAKING SO LONG TO UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!! *hides behind a table and Sil*

Another reminder of the poll on my profile: what do you want me to do after Twisted Time?

(1) The freshmen haven't yet learned how to distinguish between Shinigami and hollow reiatsu, which is why Kaede didn't recognize Ichigo's hollow reiatsu for what it was.

(2) Note that Hokkaido is delirious when he is attempting to recall his encounter with Shiro. He may remember more when he has recovered. Then again, he may not.

(3) Empowering one's limbs with reiatsu is NOT shunko; shunko is using kido to greatly empower one's hakuda (used during Yoruichi vs. Soi Fon battle during SS arc, remember? I'm not really explaining shunko well…). Also, one must strengthen one's zanpakuto using reiatsu so the zanpakuto doesn't break under the strain of battle (remember how Byakuya and Urahara cut through Ichigo's sealed Zangetsu before he learned to strengthen Zangetsu with his reiatsu?)

(4) Ichigo's been preparing for a war during the past month with the Vizards, and before that, he waged his own miniature war against the Soul Society. Who wouldn't have picked up the reflexes of a soldier in that kind of environment?

(5) You know the place with all the swirling pictures from the first chapter? _That's _the time stream.

(6) Ichigo, Shiro, and Zangetsu all realize that their presence will cause a paradox when they get back. They just have to prepare for any and all possibilities when they return. If they return.

-HM


	14. AUTHORESS NOTE

AUTHORESS NOTE:

Ok, first of all, I am EXTREMELY sorry for the month+ long wait y'all had to endure. Multiple vacations, the start of high school (on crutches, I might add), and community service work have eaten through all of my free time.

Secondly: I have changed multiple aspects of the early chapters. To those of you who have been following this fanfiction for a while, go back and read the first four chapters. You can read chapters five through nine again too if you want, but the only changes to those chapters are some slightly different wordings for easier reading. To my new readers: go right on ahead to the next chapter.

For those of you who are too lazy to go back and read the first four chapters, here's a list of all of the changes that were made:

1. Ichigo hasn't displayed his shunpo in public view. He's done the hoho exercises, but he's never actually done a shunpo.

2. The time frame in the future has changed. When Hiyori's asking where Ichigo went, Shinji replied that he had disappeared at Urahara's two weeks ago. That has changed to two days.

3. Ichigo sparred with 3rd seat Kaien Shiba. Now he sparred with 4th seat Sentaro Kotsubaki. At this point in time, Kaien's already agreed to be the 13th squad's lieutenant.

4. There's a window in Ichigo's dorm.

5. Abarai is Renji's last name. Inuzuri is the place where Rukia came from. Thus, she is now Rukia Inuzuri instead of Rukia Abarai.

6. Ichigo's reiatsu level is now seven, not six.

7. Last but biggest change: Shiro didn't make his appearance until the second chapter, AFTER Ichigo's been transported to the past. Ichigo assumed Shiro was still wild and crazy and was startled by his sudden reappearance. Urahara's device seems to have a weird effect on human-Vizards…

One last thing. If I am flamed in any way, shape, or form for all of the plot changes, I will have fun tearing you apart in chapter 15. So don't do it.

Happy reading!!!

-HM


	15. Closing the Net

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

Shiro: **Hi**

Ichigo's thoughts: _Hi_

Zangetsu: /_Hi_/

* * *

Chapter 14 – Closing the Net

Souske Aizen padded softly down the hall in the 9th squad's barracks, occasionally greeting a Shinigami passing by in the opposite direction. He was traveling to the library contained and managed within the 9th squad, where copies of the files detailing the students at the Shinigami Academy were stored. The originals were stored at the Academy.

Every year Aizen, Tousen, or Ichimaru would check the files to discern if there were any young, skilled freshmen who could easily be manipulated to help the three traitorous Shinigami reach their goal. So far, there had been no students that matched all of their criteria. Shuhei Hisagi had come close, but he had been too heavily influenced by the former captain of squad 9 during their Shinigami-hollow experimentations to be of any use. Aizen had immediately realized this when he had seen the 69 tattoo on Hisagi's left cheek.

Aizen walked silently into the library and immediately strode over to the section that contained the copies of the Shinigami Academy files. There was a computer to open and view files contained within the library (who wanted to browse for hours looking for a book, then realize they had been looking in the wrong section?), however, going through the files by hand was easiest for Aizen.

The library itself was gigantic, and contained countless books and files, including hollow eradication forms, some of the results of the experiments conducted by the 12th squad (files detailing some of the more… _sensitive_… experiments were stored within Mayuri Kurotsuchi's gigantic database), copies of all the textbooks used by the Shinigami Academy, an entire section dedicated to the history, science, math, literature, and arts of the world of the living, and a myriad of other topics. The library was so large and contained such a variety of books that Aizen doubted even some of the most senior members of the squad knew what the information contained within the books located in the most dusty, shadowy corners of the library was.

After grabbing all of the freshmen files from the shelves and settling himself into a chair, Aizen began to flip through the files. The elimination process was fairly simple: Aizen immediately discarded files that detailed students who had been in the Soul Society for over 75 years or had a reiatsu level of two or less (Aizen was careful to keep the discarded files in alphabetical order; the files had to go back on the shelves in alphabetical order and Aizen did not want to use time that could be used for plotting alphabetizing books). After the initial scan-through, Aizen would read more of the details of the student in the file. Those who only had one area of expertise were immediately discarded, as they would be too busy in the specialty squads (1) to be of any use.

Aizen hoped that one of this year's freshmen would finally match all of their criteria. Of course, his ascension to heaven would take several decades' worth of careful planning, but it would be nice for one of the components of the plan to fall into place without too much difficulty.

After a couple of hours of searching, Aizen came up with four files of freshmen that fitted all of the criteria: Izuru Kira, Momo Hinamori, Renji Abarai, and Ichigo Kurosaki. All were young, in both mind and body, as well as skilled in more than one art.

Aizen stood, smiling. How fortunate. Four possibilities in one year. When one or two prospects were found, he usually sent Tousen (2) to review him or her. But since there were so many to review this year, perhaps it was best that Aizen himself went this year.

Once Aizen had returned to his private office in the 5th squad's barracks, he glanced through the files that he had borrowed from the archives again. His gaze landed on Ichigo Kurosaki's file. Surprisingly, the freshman had defeated the 4th seat of squad 13 in just about five minutes in zanjutsu. He also showed enormous skill in hakuda and hoho. Though he was horrible at kido, he was still the strongest freshman of the bunch. What were the chances that Kurosaki would graduate in a single year, matching Ichimaru's and Shiba's records?

* * *

Souske Aizen leaned on his arm, examining the video of Ulquiorra's memory being shown before him. It showed one of the ryoka, Orihime Inoue, use fairies (the Shun Shun Rikka, Aizen believed they were called) to completely heal the arm of another one of the ryoka, Sado Yasutora. The healing technique was unlike anything Aizen had ever seen. Zooming in closer, Aizen could see flesh and bone quickly reconstructing under the soft golden light emitted by the Shun Shun Rikka.

Was this technique truly a healing technique? Or was it something far more powerful? If so, was it something Aizen could use to his advantage?

"You've got some interesting abilities, woman," Aizen murmured to himself.

* * *

Tuesday morning passed in the same manner as Monday had. In zanpakuto meditation, Ichigo got sufficient time to communicate with Shiro and Zangetsu. Thankfully the teacher (Eiji Tanikawa) wasn't skilled enough in reiatsu sensing to sense Shiro's presence. The friendly freshman Ichigo had sparred in hakuda was also in the class (was his name Ryota Asukai?). Hakuda theory was just as boring as zanjutsu theory. Both Kaede and Ryota were in the class, but both were too far away to communicate with.

Renji finally reappeared at lunchtime, mostly sober. After Ichigo questioned Renji as to why he had been drunk on Monday, Renji blushed and replied that some of the older freshmen had invited him to a party to celebrate their entrance into the Shinigami Academy. An unknown drink had been shoved into his hand, and the next thing Renji knew, he was waking up in his bed with a splitting migraine. Ichigo raised an eyebrow. Renji's explanation was lacking in details, but at least Ichigo got the satisfaction of watching Renji being chewed out by Rukia.

There was another theory class in kido. Ichigo noticed that, while Momo and Izuru were diligently paying attention, Renji was absentmindedly doodling on a piece of paper. Practical combat was interesting, since the teacher, Tatsuya Matsumura, demonstrated what he expected the freshmen to be capable of after graduation. The entire class, including Ichigo, was awestruck. The man could wield the four arts together seamlessly with feline grace. In Ichigo's extra zanjutsu, the freshmen tried sparring against some of the older students. Only Ichigo and Renji won their matches (Renji only because the fourth year he had battled with didn't know the difference between the blade and the hilt of a sword). Kaede had come close, but was beaten in the end by the third year she had been sparring against.

Hokkaido still hadn't woken up by the end of the day.

* * *

"Aizen-dono?" A voice cut through Aizen's musings.

Recognizing the voice immediately, Aizen replied, "Yes, Ulquiorra?"

"I have received a report from our sensors that Ichigo Kurosaki has vanished. He isn't in the Soul Society, nor has he accidentally stumbled upon Hueco Mundo."

"Has he died?"

"There were no indications of hollows in the area that could have killed him, and Shinigami executions are carried out in the Soul Society. As a Shinigami, human weapons pose little to no threat to him."

"He hasn't fled to the other side of the world?" Aizen knew Kurosaki would never willingly run from the upcoming war, but it never hurt to check.

"No. Our sensors last received a signal from him in the Mitsumiya district of Karakura Town. This is the district where the Urahara Shoten is located."

"Hmm… Perhaps Urahara invented something to make his reiatsu untraceable?"

"There have been no visual reports of him since his reiatsu vanished."

"Then Urahara sent him somewhere for training?... How long ago did this occur?"

"Four days ago. It is possible that Urahara may have sent him away, for reasons currently unknown. This may be unrelated, but his friends' reiatsu all rose in nervous anticipation after Kurosaki vanished. They have been killing more hollows, and I believe that the Quincy used hollow bait once to lure them to Karakura."

Aizen nodded, his head still rested comfortably on one hand. Urahara wanted more spiritual particles in the atmosphere, but for what purpose? Could Urahara have invented something that would turn the tides of the war in the Shinigami's favor?

The disappearance of Ichigo Kurosaki was troubling, as well. If Aizen kidnapped Inoue, regardless of any orders from the Soul Society, Kurosaki would be the one to lead the rescue attempt to Hueco Mundo. Without Kurosaki, the leader and strongest member of the party, Inoue's other friends would be forced to heed the Soul Society's orders, which would be to stay in the world of the living. Even if the other ryoka managed to make it to Hueco Mundo, the Soul Society would not, under any circumstances, send a team of captains to save them. Why risk captains for ryoka and an unranked officer or two?

If Kurosaki wasn't present, and the rescue team of captains not sent to Hueco Mundo to retrieve him, then Aizen's plans to trap half of the captains in Hueco Mundo while he attacked Karakura Town were ruined.

On the other hand, if Kurosaki could be found, then Aizen could commence with his best laid out plans of turning Karakura Town into a King's Key. Aizen did have some backup plans, but all of them contained more than a year of delay that would be used to build up his Arrancar army. He couldn't allow the Soul Society that kind of time to prepare.

"Ulquiorra?"

"Yes, Aizen-dono?"

"Send five of the Arrancar best at suppressing their reiatsu to Karakura Town. Tell them to spy on Urahara and all of Kurosaki's friends to find out what has happened to him."

"Hai, Aizen-dono."

"I have a mission for you, too. Go to the site of your first encounter with Ichigo Kurosaki. I want you to analyze a sample of this girl's–" Aizen gestured to the image of Orihime suspended in midair, "–reiatsu; it should be lingering on the ground." Now an image of the yellow light of the Shun Shun Rikka and the surrounding area was displayed.

"Hai, Aizen-dono. The other Arrancar will be ready within the hour." Ulquiorra bowed and silently exited the room.

* * *

Hachi spread some of the remaining parts of the contraption the Vizards were building over the table. The Vizards were still missing one key component of the device.

Hachi scratched his head and sighed. The last part was an obscenely powerful energy source. Hachi had no idea what the power source actually was – it may have been nuclear, but more likely than not it was the result of one of Urahara's energy-combining experiments. In their current position, the Vizards would be unable to obtain it through legal means. The closest person who had it was Urahara…

Hachi blinked and sighed sadly. Hiyori would insist on stealing the part…

"Why the long face, Hachi?" Rosé asked, appearing from the underground training hall.

"We're missing one last major piece from the device, and Hiyori will insist on stealing it from Urahara."

Rosé nodded. "That's troublesome."

"Hiyori does what?" Hiyori asked suspiciously, sticking her head up from the opening in the floor.

Hachi and Rosé exchanged nervous glances.

* * *

Toshiro Hitsugaya frowned, an expression not uncommonly seen on his face. "Could you repeat that, please?"

The squad 12 member on the other end of the Soul Pager replied, "Shinigami Representative Ichigo Kurosaki's reiatsu disappeared four days ago. Have you had any contact with him?"

Toshiro's frown deepened as he mentally reviewed the last four days he had spent in the world of the living. After a lengthy pause, he answered, "No…"

"Very well. If that is the case, then you have a new assignment. As well as defending Karakura Town from the Arrancar, find out what happened to Shinigami Representative Ichigo Kurosaki. Find out if he is alive or dead, and if he's alive, discover his whereabouts. We can't afford to lose a captain-class Shinigami now, right before the Winter War."

"Has captain-commander Yamamoto been informed of this?"

"Not yet. Only captains Ukitake, Kyoraku, and Kurotsuchi currently know. They decided that 'Yamamoto would take far too many measures to ensure that Kurosaki is found. We can't afford to lose too many troops for a search-and-rescue mission right before the Winter War. Don't tell Yamamoto.' That's what captain Ukitake said."

"Hai. I shall inform the 6th squad lieutenant Renji Abarai, 10th squad lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto, 11th squad 3rd seat Ikkaku Madarame, 11th squad 5th seat Yumichika Ayasegawa, and 13th squad member Rukia Kuchiki of the mission change."

After terminating the conversation, Toshiro turned and ran through a maze of streets towards Orihime's house. Hopefully Matsumoto and the others would actually be there instead of out on one of Matsumoto's many shopping sprees.

Toshiro unlocked the door to Orihime's apartment. The owner herself wasn't here. She had planned to spend the entire day with her best friend, Tatsuki; she'd be staying the night there, as well. After stepping over the large amounts of trash on the entryway floor (Orihime would have a hard time getting rid of it all), Toshiro entered the living room. A huge screen framed in purple with assorted wires coming out of every square inch of the frame dominated one wall, and there wasn't a square millimeter of floor space that wasn't covered in trash.

But Matsumoto wasn't there.

Toshiro sighed and, after pushing some of the garbage to the side, settled himself comfortably on the floor. He would wait as long as was necessary for his lieutenant and her friends to return.

* * *

Urahara entered his storeroom to retrieve the tools necessary to tweak the device that would allow Ichigo to come back from the past. He didn't want to face Yoruichi's wrath if it didn't work again.

After grabbing the needed tools, Urahara turned to leave the storeroom. However, a quiver of movement flickered in the corner of his eye.

"Hmm?" Urahara glanced in the direction of the movement. A small curtain covering an even smaller window fluttered in the light breeze.

Now this was odd. Urahara never recalled opening the window, and he was the only one allowed in the storeroom unless he gave his permission to someone else. Unless…

Urahara immediately dropped the tools he was holding and began to rummage through the boxes. He couldn't have been stolen from. There was an extremely intricate alarm kido surrounding the room. If anyone tried to get in without his permission, he would know.

Urahara ceased rummaging through the boxes. He knew what the stolen item was: an extremely powerful battery that only he knew was created from a combination of a rare variety of reishi and plutonium.

After discovering what the stolen item was, Urahara checked the window for any lingering reiatsu. He recognized the two signatures instantly, and immediately knew why the alarm had been disabled. There were few kido masters powerful or skilled enough to disable the alarm.

Hachi had taken care of the alarm, while Hiyori slipped in and grabbed the battery.

Now why would the Vizards need a battery with that kind of power?

* * *

Ulquiorra strode calmly through the halls of Las Noches; five of the best reiatsu controllers padded quietly behind him. After exiting the building into the fake sunlight (Ulquiorra really hated the sunlight – it reminded him too much of the Soul Society, home of the Shinigami, and the pathetic world of the living), Ulquiorra and the five controllers created separate gargantas. The five controllers would be stationed near strategic places in Karakura Town: Kurosaki's home, Inoue's home (where a group of high-level Shinigami were currently staying), the Urahara Shoten, Karakura High School, and the last would be tailing all of Kurosaki's human friends.

Ulquiorra had no idea why Aizen was going to such lengths to find the boy. The boy may have a place in one of Aizen's ingenious schemes, but still. He wasn't even a real Shinigami, and had no control whatsoever over his power.

Ulquiorra frowned as he remembered his first encounter with Kurosaki. With bankai, the boy had effortlessly sliced off Yammi's hierro-strengthened right arm. And even when the boy's reiatsu had begun to fluctuate wildly, he still showed enormous potential. At its height, the boy's reiatsu had been greater than his own; it was an impressive feat, considering that Kurosaki was a human boy and Ulquiorra was the fourth Espada.

Maybe Kurosaki would pose a serious threat to Aizen… if he had about a century more of training.

* * *

"Success!!" Hiyori said proudly, holding the battery in front of her. It was very small for something so powerful.

Hiyori handed the battery to Hachi, who sighed and began to connect it to the other parts of the contraption.

Lisa climbed up from the training grounds and greeted Hiyori and Hachi. "Dinner's downstairs. We're having barbeque."

"All right!!" Hiyori dashed down the stairs.

Lisa turned to Hachi. "Just out of curiosity, where did you get the plans to build the contraption?"

"Isn't it ironic? I'm unwilling to steal a powerful battery, but I'm willing to ask Shinji to copy plans that belong to Urahara that may or may not be even more damaging." Hachi's face was carefully neutral.

Lisa blinked in confusion. After placing her hand on Hachi's forehead, and discovering that he did NOT have a fever, she asked, "Who are you and what have you done with the real Hachi?"

Hachi sweatdropped.

* * *

The sunset spread a mix of orange, red, blue, and purple across the fluffy clouds. A soft breeze blew through the trees, sending multicolored leaves cascading to the ground. It was slightly chilly, and all who ventured outside wore jeans and sweatshirts. It wasn't possible to ignore nature's beauty during an autumn twilight.

Unless, of course, you were a certain white-haired captain prodigy.

Toshiro had waited the entire day for Matsumoto to return. He tried to contact her via Soul Pager, only to find that it had been turned off. Madarame and Ayasegawa were apparently out of communication range, as their Soul Pagers were inaccessible, as well. Toshiro had at least been able to contact Renji and Rukia and inform them of the change in mission. They had sounded extremely worried, and Toshiro knew that their anxiety was caused from a different reason than the loss of a captain-class Shinigami. Unknown to Toshiro, their anxiety was caused by a reason other than the disappearance of a good friend or the loss of one of the Soul Society's strongest Shinigami.

To pass the time, Toshiro had cleaned away the excessive trash littering the floor (being careful to sort through the actual trash and the readable magazines and books), sorted the messy bookshelves, and even removed the thin layer of mildew that had built up in the bathtub. Matsumoto took way too many baths for Toshiro's liking.

Now that he had nothing more to do, Toshiro had begun to pace restlessly through the house. What was taking Matsumoto so long?! Why wasn't she responding to Toshiro's summons?!

Twilight turned to dusk, and dusk turned to night. Still no Matsumoto.

At ten o'clock, just as Toshiro stood to leave to see if Matsumoto had infiltrated one of the bars, the door banged open.

"I'm baaaaaaaack!!!!" Matsumoto's voice floated down the hallway. She bounced cheerfully into the living room, sporting multiple large bags, a pissed-off looking Madarame, and a weary Ayasegawa. Matsumoto's smile and happy demeanor faded as she caught sight of the look on her captain's face.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"Matsumoto," Toshiro ground out, "How is it that you were out shopping for the ENTIRE day, and during that whole time never ONCE checked to see if you had any important messages on your Soul Pager?!" Matsumoto quailed slightly under the weight of her captain's glare.

"Told you turning off your Soul Pager for the day was a bad idea," Madarame muttered.

* * *

(1) The specialty squads are the squads where people with only one area of expertise go. These squads are: 2nd squad (hakuda/hoho/stealth), 4th squad (healing/kido), 11th squad (zanjutsu), 12th squad (experimentations/lots of book smarts), kido corps (kido), punishment force (see 2nd squad). All the other squads contain a mix of talents.

(2) Ichimaru is Aizen's lieutenant in the past. I'm making the assumption that Tousen is already a captain at this point.

Isn't it weird that Hiyori would stage a burglary during midday? But she's never been known for her patience…

Ok, let me reason through Matsumoto's thinking. She wants a day off, all to herself to have fun. She's bringing with her Ikkaku and Yumichika. She turns her Soul Pager (SP) off, knowing that the other two have SPs. Unfortunately for her, Ikkaku's SP has a dead battery, and Yumichika's got broken when a clerk stepped on it with her high-heeled shoe when he dropped it to check for messages. So no one got the message.

GAH!!!!! IT'S BEEN OVER A MONTH!!!! Please accept my apologies regarding the late update. Multiple vacactions plus the start of high school have ensured that I have had no time to type.

-HM


	16. Awakening

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.**

Shiro: **Hi**

Ichigo's thoughts: _Hi_

Zangetsu: /_Hi_/

* * *

Chapter 15 – Awakening

Hokkaido stirred before cracking open his eyelids. Bright light immediately assaulted his eyes, and he slammed them shut as his head throbbed painfully. What had happened to cause such _pain_?...

"Ah, good. You're awake." The head nurse in the infirmary loomed over Hokkaido. "Now drink this." She shoved a vile-smelling liquid into Hokkaido's hands. Hokkaido did as he was told and swallowed it, grimacing at its bitter taste.

"Well, now that you're awake, answer a few questions for me. We need to see if your memory's been damaged." Hokkaido nodded to confirm his approval and an extensive question and answer session ensued. There were questions pertaining to his identity, his job, his coworkers, his students, various members of the squads, and recent events. Hokkaido found his memory to be in almost crystal condition, except for a few memories that had occurred during the previous week. The images in the damaged memories were shrouded in an impenetrable gray fog.

"Alright, last question… Can you remember anything about your attack?"

Hokkaido frowned. He had been strolling across the grounds in the cloak he had stolen from the 12th squad… Speaking of which, where was it? Hokkaido glanced at the small table set next to his bed and breathed a sigh of relief. The cloak, as well as a fresh teacher's uniform and some get-well cards, were neatly folded in a pile on top of the table.

But why had he been utilizing the powers of the cloak? No matter how hard he prodded his memory, Hokkaido couldn't remember what he had been searching for to begin with…

Anyway, then what happened? Hokkaido closed his eyes to better focus on the memories. Something ran into him… It was white, with eyes that had golden irises and black sclera. But the being's odd eyes weren't important, compared to its physical resemblance to another… But who did the being so greatly resemble? Heck, just what was the being that had run into him? Shinigami? Hollow? A runaway experiment from the 12th squad?

"Do you remember anything at all?" the head nurse asked, destroying Hokkaido's concentration. Hokkaido nodded and massaged his temples. The annoying throbbing in his head hadn't gone away.

"I just need some more time to think, that's all…" he said hoarsely.

"Alright… when you're ready to go, you can leave. The kido's healed all physical injury, but it can't replace lost memories…" the head nurse trailed off before continuing in a brisker tone. "You'll need to take this–" the nurse held up a bottle of the same vile liquid from before, "–once a day for a week. It'll help with the headaches and any aftereffects of the kido you might feel." The nurse set the bottle next to Hokkaido's cloak before turning and trotting away, most likely to a student who had been careless in zanjutsu or hakuda and had gotten a nasty cut or a broken bone.

Hokkaido shook his head to clear away all distracting thoughts and concentrated. There must be something more to remember! If only he could see the white being's face clearly… Hokkaido could only remember those unnatural eyes; everything else in the memory was covered by the gray fog that had appeared after Hokkaido had received the head injury… Hokkaido didn't remember the creature's face, but he did remember chasing it for miles into the forest surrounding the Academy. It was extremely fast, since Hokkaido hadn't caught up to it. Hokkaido sucked in a sharp breath as a mostly clear memory floated through his consciousness.

Hokkaido had stopped in the middle of the forest. He glanced around warily. The creature's reiatsu trail had ended, and, much to Hokkaido's annoyance, he could not find it again. Nor could he remember what was so special about the reiatsu the creature was emitting. He knew there was some connection between the creature's appearance and its reiatsu, but Hokkaido could not remember what _that_ was, either. It was interesting how Hokkaido kept labeling it 'creature', though… Did Hokkaido's subconscious label have something to do with its appearance or reiatsu?

Hokkaido spotted a glimpse of white and turned, in his memory, to see something big racing towards him at an alarmingly fast rate. But what was it? This memory was shrouded with distorting gray fog, too…

Loud laughter assaulted Hokkaido's ears, breaking him out of his meditation. He glanced through the window and saw a pair of fifth year girls strolling leisurely across the miniature courtyard located near the infirmary. Their conversation floated through the infirmary's open doors.

"I got my real zanpakuto today!! I can finally get rid of my asauchi and begin working on obtaining shikai!!!"

"Congratulations!! I've almost gotten mine, since I've been able to get into my inner world and see the spirit, but I haven't been able to converse with her yet… Oh, and speaking of shikai, did you hear about the rumors flying around the school? Shuhei Hisagi, the top 7th year student, obtained shikai a couple of days ago!!"

The first girl gasped excitedly. "What did it look like?"

"There are numerous versions of his shikai, but…" the second girl's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, and Hokkaido had to strain to strain his ears to hear the girl's following comments, "…the most common version of Shuhei-kun's shikai is double bladed, just like captain Ukitake and captain Kyoraku's zanpakuto!"

The first girl gasped in awe. "What's its shape?"

"Again, I'm not sure if this is true, but… they say his shikai is made of two double-bladed scythes. Each scythe's colors are reversed on the opposite blade."

"You mean that the black and white halves of one blade are reversed on the opposing blade?"

"Exactly!"

Even though both girls had walked out of sight, Hokkaido could imagine the dreamy looks on their faces. "That's so cool… He's really hot, too…"

_Reversed colors, _Hokkaido thought as the girls exited his hearing range. _Reversed black and white… Reversed zanpakuto?_

Hokkaido gasped as the gray fog in the memory vanished without a trace, letting the large thing that had been racing towards him in the memory come into crystal-clear focus.

It was a zanpakuto.

Its shape was that of a gigantic butcher's knife, and a jet-black ribbon attached to the hilt fluttered in the zanpakuto's wake. The zanpakuto's cutting edge was a glossy ebony, while the blunt edge was snow white; the exact opposite of a normal zanpakuto. A normal zanpakuto's coloring was white on the cutting edge and black on the blunt edge. If the zanpakuto wasn't double-edged.

_Reverse-colored zanpakuto,_ Hokkaido reflected. _No wonder the girls' conversation jogged my memory…_

Now that Hokkaido knew what the object that had been rushing towards his head was, he closed his eyes and accessed the memory again. That reverse-colored zanpakuto had been speeding toward him… Hokkaido winced as his head throbbed with remembered pain. Hokkaido's head wasn't missing, so he assumed that the blunt edge of the blade had collided with his head with explosive force. It was all a blank after that…

Hokkaido frowned confusedly. He had obviously been knocked out by the oversized zanpakuto several miles away from the Academy, Seireitei, or any parts of Rukongai. But he had woken up in the infirmary. The black cutting edge of the zanpakuto had been the edge that had been swinging toward Hokkaido, but apparently the zanpakuto's wielder was skilled enough to flip the zanpakuto mid-swing. The creature hadn't wanted to kill him, and it didn't want to raise too much suspicion, so it brought Hokkaido back to the Academy… What incentive would it have to do that? There were too many big missing pieces of the puzzle… such as the creature's physical appearance and its reiatsu. And why did the creature have a zanpakuto, anyway?

Hokkaido sighed and rubbed his temples. He wouldn't accomplish anything by just sitting there, pondering about mysteries with very few clues or trying to force himself to remember the contents of his damaged memories. The gray fog clouding the memories refused to yield. Hokkaido assumed that the fog would disappear if an outside influence pertaining to his memories managed to trigger a recall. Perhaps something around campus would be that outside influence… besides, he needed to let the students and other teachers at the Academy know that he was back.

* * *

Ikoto sighed sadly as he activated the coffee machine in the teacher's lounge. Coffee wasn't available to students; it was for teachers only. Besides, coffee was more popular in the United States and most parts of Europe anyway, so Ikoto doubted that many of the students would prefer coffee over tea.

The coffee machine whirred as it spat black coffee into the cup. It was the only sound to be heard in the teacher's lounge. It had been so lively before when Hokkaido had been there to have his daily morning argument with Ikoto about the amount of coffee he consumed…

"So, is that your tenth or twentieth cup of coffee?" a dry voice asked behind Ikoto.

"Gyaaaaah!!!" Ikoto whirled around, accidentally knocking the cup of coffee off of the coffee machine and onto the person behind him. Ikoto gasped as he recognized his friend.

"HOTAKA-KUN!! YOU'RE AWAKE!!!"

"Awake and now deaf. Nice to see you too. You owe me 1000 yen." (1) Hokkaido gestured to his ruined uniform. Ikoto ignored Hokkaido's demand.

"When did you wake up?"

Hokkaido fuzzily remembered glancing at the clock before making his way out of the infirmary. Subtract a few minutes to make up for the time he spent brain picking and… "About… 7:45 this morning. By the way, what day is today? The nurse never told me…"

"Wednesday, and to answer your previous question, this would have been my thirtieth cup of coffee."

"You're going to kill yourself with all that coffee."

"I don't care."

Hokkaido then registered Ikoto's first statement. "I've been out for three days?" Hokkaido whistled. "Damn."

"Exactly. You had us worried, Hotaka-kun."

Hokkaido sighed and nodded. "Even though I'm out of the infirmary, I'll let the substitute take over for the day. I feel like I just shunpoed full-speed into a brick wall…"

"Shoo, then. Get out of here. Get back to bed. You're not fainting on my watch. Go!" Ikoto ordered while pushing a protesting Hokkaido to the door. "And don't come back until you're feeling better!"

* * *

Ichigo's eyes flickered open and barely registered that there was more light pouring through his window than usual. Something had changed. Ichigo didn't know what, but his gut instinct something very bad for him had just happened.

**You feel it too, huh? **Shiro asked softly.

Ichigo mentally nodded before glancing at the clock. It read 7:45. "Aw, crap! I overslept!" _Why didn't I wake up at the 6:00 bell?!_ Ichigo jumped out of bed, threw on his clothes, and dashed to breakfast, completely ignoring the feeling of apprehension that was building.

* * *

The foreboding feeling intensified after breakfast, which Ichigo had very little time to eat. It caused Ichigo to space out for nearly the whole of kido theory (which Kiyosugi didn't notice, thankfully), and he nearly decapitated someone in extra zanjutsu when he momentarily forgot that he was sparring a fifth-year Academy student and not one of the Vizards. Ichigo spent the entire lunch period acting as if he were half asleep, since the apprehension he was feeling kept distracting him from his friends and making his stomach churn. Ichigo's absentmindedness caused him to lose control of his strength in hakuda and break someone's arm, thoroughly butcher the beginner's exercises in reiatsu control, and even distract him from his first practical class in Practical Combat. By the end of the day, all of the other freshmen (and a lot of the upper classmen, too) were avoiding him for fear of grave injury. As soon as the bell rang to signal the end of the last class, Ichigo retreated to his dorm and collapsed onto the bed.

_What the hell is wrong with me? _Ichigo wondered.

**If it's any consolation, I'm feeling just as bad, **Shiro said, hearing Ichigo's wandering thoughts.

Ichigo spent the remainder of the break between the end of classes and dinner resting on his bed. Zangetsu and Shiro were feeling the same foreboding as Ichigo and refrained from communicating with him. Ichigo was very grateful for the silence.

* * *

Hokkaido yawned and lazily blinked open his eyes. Judging by the yellowy-orange light pouring through the window, Hokkaido had been asleep for the whole day. Ah, well. Hokkaido glanced at the clock. 6:37 pm. Dinnertime. Hokkaido's stomach growled eagerly.

Hokkaido swung his legs off of the bed, straightened his sleep rumpled uniform (it was still coffee stained, Hokkaido noted with distaste (but was too lazy to change into a clean one)), and made his way towards the cafeteria.

* * *

**King, you're gonna collapse if you skip dinner, **Shiro's irritated voice cut through the hazy fog of sleep that clouded Ichigo's consciousness. Ichigo blinked owlishly, then glanced at the clock hanging on his wall. 6:37.

The feeling of foreboding hadn't disappeared with the passage of time. If anything, it had gotten stronger.

Ichigo's stomach growled loudly, confirming Shiro's statement and making him momentarily forget about his apprehension. Ichigo stepped into the dorm hallway, ignoring the wrinkles in his uniform. Tantalizing scents of food wafted from the cafeteria and taunted Ichigo's nose. Choosing to listen to his stomach and not his gut sense, Ichigo dashed down the hallway, across the courtyard, and into the cafeteria.

After getting his meal (a large plate of chicken teriyaki, a rice ball, and steamed vegetables) and settling into his usual spot in the cafeteria, Ichigo began to eat with gusto, blocking out everything that was happening around him.

* * *

Hokkaido strode calmly across the courtyard, ignoring the stares, gasps and whispers that rose around him. It was to be expected, considering that he had been missing for half of the week…

"Ah, Hokkaido-san! You're awake!" Kiyosugi greeted him enthusiastically as she jogged across the courtyard to catch up to Hokkaido. Hokkaido paused mid-stride as he waited for Kiyosugi to catch up to him. "Anything hurt?" she asked after she had stopped next to Hokkaido.

"I have a mild headache, but I'm otherwise alright," Hokkaido politely replied, resuming his journey to the cafeteria.

"Are you going to resume teaching tomorrow?"

"Of course. Did anything major happen while I was away?"

Kiyosugi thought for a moment. "Nothing immediately comes to mind…"

Hokkaido inclined his head. "Good."

The cafeteria doors loomed in front of the two teachers. Hokkaido gave both a strong push, causing them to fly open and bang into the walls.

_What a way to make a bold entrance… _Hokkaido thought, striding confidently into the cafeteria.

* * *

A loud BANG echoed throughout the cafeteria. Ichigo would have continued to eat ravenously, had the hairs on the back of his neck not risen in warning and a chill not run down his spine. Who or what could have caused such a reaction?

Ichigo turned and saw the cafeteria doors open; two figures' silhouettes occupied the space between the open doors. Ichigo dimly registered Kiyosugi standing on the left. Her companion, however, caused Ichigo's blood to freeze.

Hokkaido had awoken.

Adrenaline surged through Ichigo's veins, causing his heartbeat to rise to almost a fever took all of Ichigo's willpower to not shundo as fast as he could out of the cafeteria.

_HIDE!!!! _Ichigo roared at Shiro, who obeyed without hesitation or protest. Zangetsu initiated what can only be described as a reiatsu lockdown. All minor sources of reiatsu were shut down, and major sources were maximally suppressed. Ichigo winced as he felt his reiatsu begin to build against the barriers and put strain on his body.

"You okay, Ichigo? You look like you've seen a ghost," Kaede stated, approaching Ichigo with a food-laden tray in hand.

"N-no. I'm fine," Ichigo replied shakily while struggling to regain his composure.

"Really? You don't look like it," Kaede frowned. It was true. Ichigo's face had paled to the point where it had almost taken on Shiro's ashen hue, and a cold sweat trickled down his neck.

"You know, I am feeling a bit dizzy," Ichigo stammered, abandoning his attempts to regain his nonchalance. "I'm going back to my dorm." Food forgotten, Ichigo tore out of the cafeteria, through the kitchens (startling several chefs), and to his dorm room. Once there, Zangetsu released Ichigo's pent up reiatsu. It surged from its restraints, causing all who were still in the freshman dorm to shiver and glance around warily. (2) Shiro also emerged from hiding.

**He's woken up, dammit!! **Shiro roared.

_How are we going to get through this? _Ichigo moaned downheartedly.

/_We'll just have to keep our cool and improvise, depending on how much Hokkaido remembers._/

_Then let's hope that Hokkaido doesn't remember too much… _Ichigo finished sullenly.

* * *

"Huh?" Hokkaido blinked confusedly as a student dashed from the cafeteria through the kitchens, moving too quickly to make out his or her face.

"It was Kurosaki," Kiyosugi murmured. "I could tell because I caught a glimpse of his bright orange hair."

"Kurosaki… Ichigo?" Hokkaido asked, brow furrowed. He could barely remember the student's name, let alone what he looked like. Hokkaido frowned. How odd. He could tell that his memory was flawless regarding all the other students, since no gray fog clouded their features, but Kurosaki's figure, in all of the memories pertaining to him, were heavily cloaked in the concealing fog.

Hokkaido mechanically grabbed his food and sat down at the teachers' table, barely registering when the other teachers greeted him. His mind was racing a mile a minute. Was Kurosaki somehow related to the being in white and his lost memory?

* * *

BOOYA!!!! CHAPTER 15!!!! Hope you enjoyed!!! ^_^

Right. I work better during school, when I have access to a computer lab and incentive to type, so expect updates fairly often. My goal is to have at least twenty chapters up by 2010. I need you to help me with that goal. I have immense writer's block and have no idea how to stage the confrontation between Ichigo and Hokkaido. Any and all ideas are appreciated… just make sure it's a confrontation after Thursday's hoho class, because that's what I've set it up to be.

I have more than 200 reviews. O.O *daze* Thank you all for supporting me all this time!! *glomps readers*

A lot of you asked about the time paradox. Don't worry, Ichi's actions won't go unpunished! But you'll have to wait and find out what happens later… A lot later.

(1) 1000 yen is about $10.

(2) Shinigami students can still feel reiatsu; they just can't identify it or wield it effectively.

I know Shuhei having shikai might mess up the hollow encounter in the world of the living, but I'll make it work. Besides, shouldn't all seated officers be able to use shikai? And Shuhei was going to have a seat in the squads after graduation, too.

I'm sorry if Shuhei's shikai explanation seemed really weird to all of you, but I couldn't think of a better way to describe it. If you can't get a good visual in your head, google it.

Ichi's got a lot on his mind. Can you blame him for slipping and forgetting that he's in the Academy and not in the Vizards' hideout?

The way I see it, Ichigo needs a lot of energy (aka food) to keep his reiatsu level up and his spiritual body healthy. Skipping breakfast and lunch was NOT good for him.

-HM


	17. Deadly Mistake

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach. Tite Kubo does, so look somewhere else to steal your stuff.

Ichigo - _Hi_

Shiro - **Hi**

Zangetsu - /_Hi_/

* * *

I am SO sorry for the long wait. I had planned to get this out two weeks ago, but life decided to play whack-a-mole with me and this got pushed to the back burner. Seriously, three major projects at the same time and being bedridden by swine flu can really put a damper on writing abilities. Yes, I got swine flu.

Please, no matter how long an update takes, I'm not abandoning this fic. If it's stopping for good, I will tell you, not leave you hanging like 90% of the other authors out there do. *grumbles*

If you accept it as an apology, there is omake at the end of this chapter. Hope you enjoy it as well.

* * *

Chapter 16 – Deadly Mistake

Ichigo spent the next day in a haze of panic. Zanpakuto meditation was used for planning for Hokkaido's inevitable confrontation. There were several ideas presented:

1) Play dumb  
2) Tell Hokkaido that Ichigo had a twin brother who had turned into a hollow  
3) Ask Hokkaido if he was quite sure that the head injury hadn't messed with his memory  
4) Skewer him if he got too nosy (this had been Shiro's suggestion but had immediately been shot down by Ichigo and Zangetsu)  
5) Pretend to be confused and amnesiac about that afternoon  
6) Avoid Hokkaido at all costs, including skipping hoho classes (this was quickly shot down too; Ichigo couldn't skip every hoho class of the year and expect to not be caught out)

Number two was quickly voted the best option, with number one as backup and number five as a last resort. (1)

**I still say we should skewer him and be done with this whole mess**, Shiro grumbled.

Other than zanpakuto meditation, the rest of the day was a complete disaster. During healing, Ichigo's concentration slipped and he poured way too much reiatsu into the dummy Ichigo was practicing his "healing" reiatsu on, causing the dummy to burst. Ichigo winced as Morishita, the teacher, began to angrily rant at him, since the state of the dummy's body was supposed to reflect the healing speed and durability of the average Shinigami. Apparently, when too much foreign reiatsu is forced into a Shinigami's body too quickly, the Shinigami's own reiatsu is overwhelmed and the body can't cope with it; as a result, it explodes. (2)

Ichigo hid in his dorm room during lunch. Renji eventually brought Ichigo one of the Western style sub sandwiches. Ichigo thought this was extremely out-of-character for Renji, until he noticed the dark bruise on Renji's jaw. Rukia must have "asked" Renji to bring something up for him. That was nice of her.

Practical combat went just as terribly as healing. During the practical portion of the class, Ichigo's shot nerves caused him to send several students to the infirmary with broken limbs and cracked ribs. Tatsuya eventually told Ichigo to do some conditioning alone to prevent any more injuries and to improve his strength and flexibility. Not that he needed much improvement there…

Ichigo managed to destroy seven dummies in his extra kido class (this had to be some sort of a record). Kiyosugi's frustration and Ichigo's edginess resulted in the shouting match that had most of the students, including Rukia and Kaede (who were taking this extra kido class with Ichigo), cringing from the volume of the voices and the slowly rising reiatsu from both the teacher and student.

At last Ichigo faced his last class of the day. Ichigo prepared himself both mentally and physically for the class when he would be forced to confront Hokkaido for the first time since Sunday.

Hoho.

_Well_, Ichigo mentally sighed, resigning himself to his fate. _It would be best to get this over with_.

Ichigo pushed open the door to the hoho building.

* * *

Hokkaido glanced through the roster for his last class of the dy. Renji Abarai, Momo Hinamori, Izuru Kira, Kaede Kuromizu… Ichigo Kurosaki. Finally, the elusive freshman would appear. It had become blatantly obvious throughout the course of the day that Kurosaki had been avoiding him. That, coupled with a quick summary of what happened during the previous week's teacher's meeting, had re-aroused the hoho sensei's distrust and curiosity of the carrot-topped freshmen. Hokkaido glanced at the clock.

_Well_, Hokkaido thought, _I shouldn't keep the class waiting any longer_.

* * *

The doors at the back of the hoho building banged open and Hokkaido strode in. Ichigo immediately hid behind Kaede, who swiveled her torso to completely block Ichigo from Hokkaido's view. (3) Ichigo watched as Hokkaido scanned the crowd of freshmen, looking for any absent students. Finding none (since the tips of Ichigo's hair were visible above Kaede's shoulder), Hokkaido launched into a rather spirited history of the stealth and punishment force. It would have been extremely interesting, had Ichigo not already known most of the information being presented and had he been feeling a bit more charitable toward Hokkaido.

"Why is Hokkaido lecturing us about the politics of the 2nd squad and the Fon family when he's supposed to be teaching us hoho?" Kaede hissed to no one in particular.

"Maybe he's just telling us our options once we've graduated from the Academy if our main strength is hoho," Izuru, who heard Kaede, suggested.

Kaede huffed in annoyance. "Well, I still think that it's pointless."

Hoho class passed by without incident. Hokkaido was obviously still recovering from the concussion, since he looked slightly dizzy a couple of times during the lesson. Nevertheless, despite the peaceful atmosphere and Hokkaido's obvious disability, Ichigo remained tense and alert. He had the feeling that this was only the calm before the storm, and was relieved when the bell rang. Ichigo's relief was short-lived, however.

"Ichigo Kurosaki! Please stay with me for a few minutes after class!"

_Sh**_, Ichigo thought. He turned toward the exit to ignore Hokkaido's request, but Kaede blocked his path. She winked encouragingly.

"Don't worry," she grinned.

By now, because of the delay from Kaede, Ichigo would have no chance to slip out of the hoho building unnoticed. Ichigo stood rigidly as the other students, including Kaede, filed out of the room, leaving Ichigo alone with Hokkaido. Ichigo stood facing away from Hokkaido, trying to resist the prompt his brain was sending him: FLEE!! FLEE!!!

"Kurosaki-san? I'd rather you faced me when I'm talking to you."

Ichigo reluctantly turned to face Hokkaido.

* * *

Kurosaki slowly turned to face Hokkaido. Hokkaido immediately began memorizing Kurosaki's facial features: the angular face, the intense brown eyes, the scowl, the bright orange hair. He also memorized the reiatsu signature: its strange lack of individual quirks, the feeling of intense suppression, the impression of hidden strength.

Hokkaido opened his mouth to question Kurosaki… and promptly doubled over, clutching his head and groaning; a sudden stab of pain had ripped through his skull. Out of the corner of his eye, Hokkaido noticed Kurosaki take a hesitant step backwards.

"Hokkaido-sensei?" he asked uncertainly.

"Just go," Hokkaido grunted.

Kurosaki needed no further prompting and immediately fled the hoho building, leaving Hokkaido to slump to the floor, immobile.

* * *

"So, what did Hokkaido-sensei want?" Kaede asked as she saw Ichigo emerge from the hoho building.

"I don't know. He took one look at me and doubled over, holding his head," Ichigo replied truthfully. He then turned away and began striding toward his dorm, hoping to get away from Kaede and talk peacefully with his inner spirits.

"Hokkaido-sensei collapsed?! Shouldn't we get a nurse from the infirmary?" Kaede gasped.

"You can do that. I'm going back to my dorm," Ichigo said, hoping he sounded a lot calmer than he felt. Hokkaido's fit had unnerved him even more than he already was.

"Don't you care about Hokkaido-sensei?!" Kaede shouted.

* * *

"Don't you care about Hokkaido-sensei?!" Kaede's screech reverberated throughout Ichigo's inner world, causing Zangetsu to wince. Shiro glared up at the sky, since it was visible from his hiding place in Ichigo's soul. He growled angrily.

Shiro, though more sane from whatever effects Urahara's stone/invention had upon him, was still, in essence, a hollow. Hollows tend to act according to instinct. Shiro was now able to repress those instincts to a degree, but he would succumb to his emotions once in a while.

And now was one of those times.

Shiro surged from his hiding place and, ignoring Zangetsu's cries to stop, pushed King from control of the body.

* * *

"Huh?" Kaede murmured as Ichigo suddenly stiffened and bowed his head, casting his eyes in shadow. She sucked in a sharp breath as she felt his reiatsu change; first dropping to mediocre Academy level then jumping to terrifyingly powerful. His reiatsu finally settled for above-Academy level, but it was… darker, more sinister than Ichigo's normal signature. Like when she had stumbled across him in that alleyway Sunday…

"**Little girl**." Kaede stiffened as Ichigo spoke. It sounded like he had two voices instead of one. "**To answer your question, I don't care one bit about Hokkaido. Hell, I'd be excited if one day he crawled into a hole and died**."

Kaede remained motionless. This-this _thing_ wasn't Ichigo. The Ichigo she knew would _never _say something like that…

The not-Ichigo lifted his head and the shadows covering his eyes disappeared. Kaede gasped. Those eyes were _definitely _not Ichigo's eyes. Instead of his normal, warm, chocolate eyes, the irises had turned to a flinty gold color. And the scleras were an inhuman jet-black instead of the usual white.

The not-Ichigo leaned forward. Kaede hardly dared to breathe. "**I'd suggest you'd learn where the thin line between curious and nosy is, little girl. Don't try me again.**" The not-Ichigo gave Kaede a menacing smirk before disappearing in what looked to Kaede to be the advanced shunpo Hokkaido-sensei had once showed the freshmen.

Once Kaede was certain that the not-Ichigo was gone, she slumped to the ground. A cold sweat trickled down her neck. "What the hell was that?" she whispered.

* * *

Hokkaido leaned heavily against the wall of the hoho building, panting. Hokkaido didn't have the energy to do anything other than remain where he was, motionless. The headache/nail-pounding-into-his-skull had crippled him. The migraine became unbearably painful; Hokkaido's vision blurred and he vomited right before he was swept away in a tide of memories. He relived his first questioning of Kurosaki; he felt Kurosaki's abnormal reiatsu signature at a lunch at the beginning of school; he heard the discussion taking place in the lounge again. Every memory pertaining to Kurosaki was restored, sans Sunday's memories. After the flood of memories ceased, Hokkaido sank to the floor, careful to avoid the pool of vomit at his feet. The headache slowly ebbed away as the last of Hokkaido's memories were restored.

Hokkaido took a deep breath to steady his shaking limbs. As he did so, he noticed Kurosaki's reiatsu outside the hoho building, along with another weaker signature… Hokkaido believed that it was Kaede Kuromizu's signature.

Suddenly, Kurosaki's reiatsu signature began to fluctuate wildly, as if he were gravely injured and struggling to remain conscious. Hokkaido was amazed by the strength of Kurosaki's reiatsu at its peak. After a few moments, Kurosaki's reiatsu settled down to lieutenant's level. Hokkaido's first impression of Kurosaki's stable signature was suppression. Hokkaido sucked in a sharp breath. Suppression at lieutenant's level? By kami, that boy must be hiding some extreme power. Hokkaido was just glad Kurosaki didn't love a good brawl; the 13 Court Guard Squads didn't need another Kenpachi.

After he got over his shock of the strength of Kurosaki's reiatsu signature, Hokkaido attempted to read Kurosaki's signature more in-depth. Kurosaki's signature was primarily Shinigami, but there were strains of another type of reiatsu underlying the Shinigami reiatsu. It took Hokkaido a couple of moments to recognize it.

Hollow.

Hokkaido's heart skipped a beat. How the hell could Kurosaki be part hollow and retain his intelligence and Shinigami appearance? After recovering from his initial astonishment, Hokkaido attempted to struggle to his feet, but failed. Hokkaido prayed fervently that whatever hollow instincts Kurosaki had weren't dominant. He didn't want to deal with a dead Kuromizu.

The Shinigami/hollow hybrid of Kurosaki's reiatsu signature disappeared. Hokkaido let out a sigh of relief as he felt Kuromizu's reiatsu signature. The Shinigami/hollow had fled, leaving Kuromizu weak from exposure to such strong hollow reiatsu, but alive.

Unexpectedly, another stab of pain assaulted Hokkaido. He leaned against the wall, panting as he struggled to remain conscious; this pain was far worse than the original migraine. In a particularly fierce stab of pain, Hokkaido was once against sucked into his memories. Hokkaido sucked in a breath as he recognized the Academy's grounds and realized that he was reliving Sunday's memories.

Sunday's feelings assaulted Hokkaido. He was deeply suspicious of Kurosaki and was using the invisibility cloak to try and track down the missing freshman.

All of a sudden, something crashed very forcefully into Hokkaido. Hokkaido was knocked to the ground, but again he never noticed the cloak slipping off of his shoulders.

After recovering from his disorienting meeting with the ground, Hokkaido turned and saw the unnatural, black-and-gold eyes. Hokkaido already knew what the eyes looked like; all he needed to know now was the white being's appearance and reiatsu… Its reiatsu was that of a hollow, but Hokkaido was caught more off-guard by the reverse shihakusho and the snow-white skin. Hokkaido's gaze traveled up to the being's face and his heart gave a mighty thud.

Hokkaido was staring at Ichigo Kurosaki.

The rest of the memory sped by in a vague green blur, as Hokkaido was too busy mulling over the new mystery presented before him. Questions popped into his head the more he examined the memory. _Why the hell did Kurosaki suddenly become 95% snow white and why did he have a hollow's reiatsu? Was the hollow even Kurosaki, or was the hollow completely unrelated? Why did the Kurosaki look-alike hollow act so strangely, since it ran from me and obviously returned me to the Academy after knocking me out? Why did the hollow only knock me out, but didn't kill me?_ Thinking back to the incident concerning Ichigo and Kaede, Hokkaido wondered, _Why did Kurosaki's reiatsu fluctuate before becoming part hollow? How much power does that boy really have? And what happened between Kurosaki and Kuromizu?_

Hokkaido's energy slowly returned as he sat on the hard wooden floor until he was finally able to get to his feet and limp to his dorm. Right before he fell asleep after stumbling into his bed, Hokkaido thought, _This merits another teacher's meeting… I'll have to question Kuromizu… Ichigo Kurosaki, you are an enigma I am determined to unravel!_

* * *

_Why oh why oh why of why oh why! _Ichigo moaned, pacing around his dorm room. After Shiro had sonidoed away from Kaede, he had regained his senses and fled to Ichigo's dorm. The force Shiro had used to push Ichigo out of control of his body had knocked Ichigo unconscious. The instant Ichigo had regained consciousness, the hollow peacefully gave up control of the body, fleeing to the farthest corner of Ichigo's soul to brood. Ichigo had learned what had happened from Zangetsu and had been absolutely horrified.

_Coming to the Academy was supposed to be educational, not a place that would set me up to be discovered by students and nosy teachers!_ Ichigo inwardly yelled while tugging at his hair. _Dammit all!!!_

/_At least it'll keep you on your toes, like in a wartime situation._/ Zangetsu offered, trying to calm his distraught wielder. He didn't like the look of the dark clouds in the sky of Ichigo's inner world, nor did he like the peals of thunder that occasionally echoed through the humid air.

_The bad of this situation far outweighs the good! _Ichigo sighed. _If Shiro weren't hiding in one of the corners of my soul, I'd have long ago entered my inner world and beaten him to a bloody pulp for his thoughtlessness!_

/_Taking out your frustration on Shiro won't help anything._/ Zangetsu admonished.

_No, but it'll make me feel better, _Ichigo grumbled.

/_Think, Ichigo! Right now you're acting like a hollow, focused only on revenge since that was your first instinct on how to deal with the situation! Calm yourself and reflect on the situation from a level-headed Shinigami's perspective!_/

_Fine, _Ichigo retorted._ Kaede will be afraid of me forevermore. She'll tell a teacher. The news will eventually find its way to Hokkaido. Worst-case scenario: he'll call in the Shinigami to haul me away to the 12__th__ squad or try to kill me. Enough said. I can't think of a best-case scenario, since they all are completely impossible, considering Hokkaido's and Kaede's personalities! Do you think Hokkaido will let my reiatsu change slide, or that Kaede will happily leave me alone? No, they'll want to know the truth, and they'll pester me about it until they get the truth or Shiro really snaps and murders them, _Ichigo finished bitterly.

Zangetsu was silent, as he could think of no way to comfort his wielder or offer him hope. In Ichigo's inner world, the heavens opened, dumping what seemed like gallons of water onto the zanpakuto spirit. For once, he didn't mind, since Ichigo's hopelessness was leaking through their mental link and dampening the zanpakuto's mood.

_How are we going to wriggle our way out of this problem? _Ichigo moaned. Zangetsu silently agreed with him.

* * *

OMAKE!!!! Chapter 13, ending redo. I got this idea from What Emails Can Do To You. It was quickly rejected. If you don't like weird and/or stupid humor and/or hate Barney bashing, don't read this.

After guiding Renji to his bed, Ichigo said, "Now sleep till you're sober, you idiot."

Abruptly, Renji reached out and grabbed Ichigo's arm. His grip was surprisingly strong. Ichigo tried to pry Renji's fingers from his arm, but to no avail. Slurring his word slightly, Renji mumbled, "Beware th' evil overlord of darkness… Beware…"

"Huh?" _Why is the Renji of this time referring to Aizen?!_

"Beware th' purple din'saur…" Just as abruptly as Renji had grabbed Ichigo's arm, Renji closed his eyes and flopped, boneless, onto the bed, obviously unconscious.

Once he had closed to door to Renji's dorm room and returned to his own room, Ichigo began pondering the meaning of Renji's words.

_What the hell? How do Aizen and purple dinosaurs fit together? Could Aizen be experimenting to create a really powerful hollow that looks like a dinosaur and has a purple mask? What if-_

Shrill laughter interrupted Ichigo's thoughts. **Note that Renji never said 'Aizen', **Shiro said, still giggling.

_Then what did he mean? Overlord of darkness… purple dinosaur…_

**Also note that Renji is incredibly drunk.**

Something clicked inside of Ichigo's head. _How is Aizen related in any way, shape, or form to Barney?_

Shiro began laughing again. **I guess I'll have to spell it out for ya. Since Renji is drunk and not aware of what he's saying, he is suggesting that Barney is the evil overlord of darkness because it's a known fact that Barney corrupts the minds of children.**

The words took a moment to sink into Ichigo's brain, but then he started laughing uncontrollably at his red-haired friend's expense.

About thirty years later, a certain tattooed lieutenant awoke from his slumber in a violent sneezing fit.

* * *

HA!! I BET NONE OF YOU WERE EXPECTING THAT!!! Now I need help getting past my writer's block… Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Help!

Well, I hope the ending of that chapter filled any angst desires you may or may not have. I read a really angsty fic a couple of days ago and I guess it had an impact on my writing…

(1) If you're wondering about Zangetsu's and Ichigo's reasoning, it's like this: number 5 would make Hokkaido more mistrustful than he already was, but number 3 would only make Hokkaido more sure that Ichigo knew something about Sunday's incident.

(2) I have several theories for this: when a whole (plus) turns into a hollow, it explodes and reforms elsewhere. This is because of the transition from Shinigami reiatsu (all wholes have the reiatsu of a Shinigami, but most don't have enough to be of use to the 13 Court Guard Squads) to hollow reiatsu. Ichigo and the other Vizards, when an inner hollow was forming in their souls, didn't explode because of the strength of their Shinigami reiatsu (even though Ichigo's was locked away at the time). They were able to resist turning completely into hollows. Remember what happened to the normal souls in Rukongai when Aizen experimented on them? They exploded.

(3) Kaede guessed that Ichigo saved Hokkaido, remember? She must think he doesn't want to be singled out for his heroic deed. And she's been feeling particularly cheerful lately…

-HM


	18. An End and a Beginning

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach. Tite Kubo does, so look somewhere else to steal your stuff.

Ichigo - _Hi_

Shiro - **Hi**

Zangetsu - /_Hi_/

* * *

Chapter 17 – An End and a Beginning

Ichigo stared at the ceiling of his dorm room, absentmindedly listening to the chatter of the students traipsing through the Academy grounds. He'd skipped classes that day, opting to pretend to be sick and staying inside his dorm. He'd spent the day communicating with Zangetsu, trying to come up with a way to salvage the situation. So far, neither Ichigo nor Zangetsu had come up with a suitable plan to satisfy Hokkaido's (and now Kaede's) curiosity, short of leaving the Academy, which both were reluctant to do. Shiro hadn't reappeared from the depths of Ichigo's soul, for which Ichigo was glad. He wasn't sure if he could restrain himself from attacking the hollow if he reappeared, despite Zangetsu's lecture about the differences between Shinigami and hollows and how Ichigo was acting more like a hollow than a Shinigami.

A knock sounded from Ichigo's door, causing him to jump in surprise. Warily, Ichigo called, "Who is it?"

"It's Renji. Let me in, Ichigo," came the reply.

"Go away and leave me alone," Ichigo grumbled, barely loud enough for Renji to hear through the door.

Something slid under the door. Curious, Ichigo grabbed the slip of paper from its resting place on the floor and opened it. A few kanji characters, boldly written and underlined multiple times, dominated the entire piece of paper. The kanji read, _LET US IN!! _Ichigo immediately recognized Rukia's handwriting (what was she doing in the boy's dorm?) and opened the door, admitting both Renji and Rukia to his dorm. Rukia glared at Ichigo angrily before settling on the bed, scowl on her face and arms crossed. Renji quickly pushed the door closed.

"I had to sneak Rukia in here. I wouldn't want all my efforts to be worth nothing if Rukia were caught," Renji explained a bit unnecessarily.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in class?" Ichigo asked, slightly annoyed at the intrusion.

"We're taking fewer extra classes than you are, so we got out early today," Renji said.

"Are you sure you're sick? You don't look ill to me," Rukia stated, forgetting her annoyance at Ichigo and studying her friend closely.

One of Ichigo's eyebrows twitched. "I don't feel great, if that's what you're asking," he replied through clenched teeth. "I'll deal with it myself. You didn't have to come here."

Rukia looked incredulous. "Are you sure you're not just acting sick to cut class?" Ichigo glared at her.

Rukia ignored the glare. "Well, we brought you some food, Ichigo. We figured you'd be hungry, since you didn't show up for any of the meals." Ichigo's stomach rumbled in agreement, to Ichigo's annoyance and Rukia's and Renji's amusement.

"You'll be behind a day since you skipped-"

"I DIDN'T CUT CLASS!"

"-so Renji will tell you about the classes you missed." Rukia looked expectantly at Renji.

Renji scratched the back of his head as he thought through the day. "Well, we had a mostly practical day today, so you didn't miss any important theory classes… We started learning how to breed and handle hell butterflies in kido, so you may want to see Kiyosugi-sensei and get caught up with that…"

Ichigo absentmindedly thanked Renji for the advice (and some part of him was surprised; the Renji of the past (and sometimes present) usually showed a distinct lack of common sense), though it was partially muffled by one of the four rice balls Rukia had been able to squirrel away for Ichigo.

"Ichigo?"

Ichigo quickly finished off the rice ball he was eating and answered, "Yes, Rukia?" before tearing into the next rice ball.

"Go to Kiyosugi-sensei and get some help from her. I know you're terrible at kido, but you need to go see her. You look well enough to go."

Ichigo choked on the rice ball. "No!" he gasped.

"Yes!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

"Too bad; you don't have a choice."

"Wha-"

Ichigo was bodily shoved out the door by Rukia. He whirled around just as the door slammed shut and the lock clicked into place.

"RUKIA!"

"You're not coming back in until you go see Kiyosugi-sensei! You're not getting your food back until then, either!" Rukia replied, her voice muffled by the door.

"Dammit!" Ichigo swore as he spun around and stalked down the hallway.

* * *

Kaede sat under a maple tree, knees drawn up close and eyes hooded. She faced the oak tree at the other side of the courtyard, thinking of a time just a couple of days previous when Ichigo would have been sitting under that tree, bickering with herself and/or Rukia and/or Renji. But he wasn't there now; he'd apparently been in his dorm the entire day, sick. Kaede inwardly snorted. It was very unlikely that Ichigo was actually unwell; it was probably just a ruse to keep himself away from herself and Hokkaido-sensei. After the previous day's incident, she wasn't surprised, though she had thought that Ichigo was braver than taking refuge in his room to avoid facing the consequences of his actions – or the questioning of whatever it was that had happened to him the day before.

Speaking of which, Kaede scowled in frustration. She'd spent her free time since the previous day's incident in the Academy library, researching various irregularities in konpaku. So far the only irregularity she'd found was that the Shihouin family could turn into cats, and Ichigo wasn't a Shihouin, nor did he look remotely like a cat the day before. Since the topic of konpaku irregularities had come up with no leads, Kaede was planning to research various types of reiatsu to try and identify the reiatsu Kaede had sensed Ichigo emitting. She'd planned to research it after dinner, but she'd found herself under the maple tree, listlessly staring at the base of the oak tree…

"Hey, are you alright? You seem kind of down," a curious voice said. Kaede lifted her head to see a girl, about her age with black hair pulled into two low pigtails and warm mahogany eyes, looking down at her with concern.

"Who are you?" Kaede inquired softly.

"My name's Momo Hinamori. It's a pleasure to meet you," Momo said, settling herself beside Kaede. "What's your name?"

Kaede hesitated a moment before answering. "Kaede Kuromizu."

Momo smiled kindly. "You can tell me about whatever's bothering you, you know."

Kaede shook her head, her throat constricting with unexpected emotion.

"Alright then. I'll just stay here, in case you change your mind."

Kaede leaned against the tree and closed her eyes. "Thank you," she whispered.

After about a half hour of sitting against the maple tree and enjoying Momo's idle chatter (which helped drain Kaede of all negative emotions), Kaede stood and stretched, muscles popping and mouth wide open in a yawn. Seeing Kaede's movement, Momo stood as well, bending over backwards to remove the stiffness from her back.

"Thank you," Kaede said, this time loud enough for Momo to hear.

"Anytime!" Momo smiled. "I'm glad I could help."

Kaede immediately felt guilty. Momo had spent a half hour with Kaede, talking about nothing to relieve Kaede's emotional distress, comforting a complete stranger, without any incentive at all. She'd simply wanted to help a fellow Academy student, and what was Kaede giving her in return for Momo's kindness (and discomfort; the tree wasn't very comfortable to lean on)? A simple thank you and no explanation of why Kaede needed comforting in the first place.

"Momo?"

"Yes?"

"I'll tell you about my troubles…"

Another half-hour and detailed explanation later, Kaede felt emotionally drained, yet exhilarated at the same time. It had been wonderful to finally talk to someone about the incident the day before, and Momo was a keen listener, gasping and widening her eyes in all the right places. When Kaede was finished, Momo slumped against the tree, eyes popping out of their sockets, as she processed what Kaede had told her.

"Momo?" Kaede asked tentatively. She hadn't meant to open up so completely to Momo and was worried about how she would react.

After what seemed to be an eternity, Momo straightened and looked at Kaede with a determined glint in her eye. "Well, are you going to research reiatsu in the library or not?" Kaede nodded. "Alright! Then I'm helping too."

Kaede was taken aback by Momo's proclamation. "If you're sure…"

"Sure I'm sure!" Momo exclaimed before sticking her hand out. "Friends?"

Kaede grinned and took the hand. "Friends."

* * *

Ichigo stalked through the hallways of the main building of the Shinigami Academy, muttering angrily to himself. Of all the time for Rukia to pick to throw him out of his dorm! It was a major risk for Ichigo to be roaming the halls; Hokkaido could be anywhere, and anyone he told would be on the lookout as well…

And yet Ichigo was going to see Kiyosugi, one of the teachers Hokkaido had most likely informed of the previous day's incident.

Suddenly, Ichigo found himself outside of the kido classroom. Ichigo could feel Kiyosugi's reiatsu inside, if he concentrated. Ichigo was about to turn away from the door when he started to mentally got over the reasons that he should go inside the classroom. Rukia wouldn't let Ichigo back in his dorm until he'd gone to see Kiyosugi; Ichigo really didn't want to intrude on another person's dorm to get a safe haven to sleep in at night (among other reasons, like the threat of a certain hollow randomly going berserk); Ichigo didn't want to rat out his closest Shinigami friend (regardless of year); and Ichigo had grown sick of hiding in his dorm, no matter that is was for the protection of his sensitive secrets (he was no coward, so why was he acting like one?!). Ichigo took a deep breath, turned, braced himself, and entered the kido classroom.

* * *

Kiyosugi was mildly surprised when Kurosaki came into her classroom, asking to make up the kido work that had been done that day in class. It was odd he had been absent in the first place, but Kurosaki had been acting strangely ever since Sunday; Kiyosugi guessed that there was some connection between Hokkaido's return trip to the infirmary due to his sudden collapse the day before and Kurosaki's absence from class that day, but for the life of her, she could not figure out what the connection was.

Kiyosugi guided Kurosaki to the area where the freshmen hell butterfly eggs were stored. She instructed him on how to infuse the eggs with reiatsu to make them grow. Granted, Kurosaki did put a bit too much reiatsu into his egg, but he did reasonably well for his first time, considering his horrible kido.

It was a pity that Kiyosugi wasn't aware of just how much extra reiatsu Kurosaki had unintentionally shoved into the egg.

* * *

Hokkaido paced in a large circle in an empty classroom, waiting for Kurosaki to emerge from the kido classroom. Hokkaido had felt the freshman's reiatsu and had rushed towards Kurosaki after sneaking out of the infirmary, intending to wring some answers from the freshman. He hadn't gotten there in time before the freshman had disappeared into the kido classroom. Due to Hokkaido's stay in the infirmary, he hadn't gotten a chance to warn the other teachers about Kurosaki and his – well, Hokkaido wasn't exactly sure what to label it. Fact: Kurosaki was dangerous. All who emitted hollow reiatsu were dangerous. Hokkaido had taken it upon himself to find out _why _Kurosaki was emitting hollow reiatsu.

Hokkaido snapped to attention. Kurosaki was approaching.

* * *

Ichigo strode through the hallway, eager to return to his dorm room. Hopefully Rukia would believe him when he said he'd gone to see Kiyosugi and let him back inside his dorm…

Ichigo froze in the middle of the hallway, the hairs on the back of his neck rising. Nothing was visibly wrong, and even with Ichigo's reiatsu-sensing impairment, Ichigo could sense that there was no one in the vicinity. So why had he frozen, as if a hidden Arrancar were looking down at him from above?

A burst of reiatsu warned Ichigo of another's presence in the hallway before a hand clamped over Ichigo's mouth and another hand restrained Ichigo's wrists. Ichigo attempted to twist away, but the person was too strong. Ichigo crashed to the floor and heard a door slam shut behind him. Ichigo finally recovered from his initial shock and panic enough to twist out of his captor's grasp and scramble to his feet. His eyes widened when he beheld his assailant.

"Hokkaido?!"

* * *

Hokkaido cursed under his breath when he heard Kurosaki exclaim his name. He'd hoped to interrogate Kurosaki with the freshman immobilized, in case Kurosaki, or the hollow, or whatever Kurosaki was, became aggressive and decided to attack Hokkaido. Hokkaido wasn't stupid; he'd read Ikoto's and Akamizu's reports of the freshman's skill level in zanjutsu and hakuda and knew that the freshman stood a very good chance of overwhelming Hokkaido, should Kurosaki decide to go full-out against Hokkaido. Kurosaki's threat would have been immobilized, though, had the freshman not decided to freeze right before the doorway of the classroom Hokkaido had been hiding in. How Kurosaki had known that Hokkaido had been hiding in that classroom, Hokkaido didn't know, since Hokkaido had been suppressing his reiatsu to the point of nonexistence and Kurosaki was a terrible reiatsu sensor.

"Hokkaido, what are you doing?" Kurosaki asked, annoyed.

_Not Hokkaido-sensei. Just Hokkaido. Kurosaki is one disrespectful freshman, _a part of Hokkaido thought. Hokkaido ignored Kurosaki's question (and his inner voice), instead focusing on his reiatsu signature. It was still suppressed.

"Release your reiatsu inhibitors," Hokkaido commanded quietly.

Kurosaki stiffened. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, I think you do."

Kurosaki remained silent, eyes distant. After a few moments, he spoke. "Hokkaido. I know you want answers. Considering the trouble I've caused you, your curiosity – however annoying it is-" Kurosaki scowled angrily, "-is expected. But here isn't the best place for answers." Before Hokkaido could react, Kurosaki had flung Hokkaido over his shoulder and jumped through an open classroom window. Hokkaido began to struggle; who knew what the freshman had planned?

"Relax, okay? Geez, I'm not going to hurt you or anything," Kurosaki muttered.

Hokkaido rested on the freshman's shoulder for who knew how long. All Hokkaido could see of his surroundings was a vague green blur. During a brief moment when Hokkaido craned his head upwards, he could see rapidly fading streaks of color in the sky; Hokkaido guessed that he had been on the freshman's shoulder for half an hour before letting his head droop again. Abruptly, Kurosaki stopped and dumped Hokkaido unceremoniously on the ground.

"We won't be found here," he said.

Hokkaido picked himself up from the ground and examined his surroundings. He was in a gigantic clearing surrounded by think forest. About half of the clearing was made of scorched tree stumps and large craters gouged out of the ground by incredibly powerful kido or the attack of a shikai zanpakuto. Debris was littered throughout the clearing. Hokkaido stiffened as he felt the enormous amount of lingering Shinigami and hollow reiatsu.

"Where are we?" Hokkaido asked quietly.

"My training area," Kurosaki answered curtly.

Hokkaido shot him a startled look. "Is this where you were Sunday? And how could you keep the amount of reiatsu I feel lingering hidden from the Academy and Seireitei?"

"The clearing – well, half of it – is bordered by fragments of Sekki-Sekki rock. And yes, this is where I was Sunday."

"Where is this clearing in relation to the Academy?"

Kurosaki narrowed his eyes. "It's about ten miles away from the Academy. I won't tell you its exact location; there's a reason why I took a roundabout way to get here."

Hokkaido nodded before something Kurosaki had said registered. "Wait, ten miles? In half an hour? With detours? You could only have achieved that with very advanced shunpo…" As soon as the words were out of Hokkaido's mouth, Kurosaki disappeared and reappeared about ten meters away in a magnificent display of extremely advanced shunpo. Hokkaido gaped.

"Where did you learn shunpo like _that_?!"

"That's something I'll keep to myself. Now weren't you going to interrogate me about something other than my shunpo?" Kurosaki said, irritated.

Hokkaido was silent for a few moments before answering. "Why do you have hollow reiatsu?"

Kurosaki stared into the distance again. After a few moments, he removed whatever reiatsu suppressors he had. Hokkaido gasped as he felt reiatsu that contained the unmistakable menace that screamed _hollow _emitting from Kurosaki. Hokkaido's eyes bulged as he felt Kurosaki's power level; at its lowest, it was high lieutenant level!

"How?" Hokkaido whispered, dumbstruck.

"I had a run-in with Urahara when I was still alive," Kurosaki said.

"Urahara? As in _Kisuke _Urahara? Former captain of the 12th squad?" Hokkaido gasped.

"The very same."

"What did he do to make you…" Hokkaido trailed off.

Kurosaki, picking up Hokkaido's meaning, replied, "I needed more power than I had at the time to rescue a friend. Urahara's unorthodox way of granting me Shinigami powers while I was still alive left me part hollow."

Hokkaido opened his mouth. And closed it. And opened it again. And closed it again. Finally, going for a mostly unconnected question, he asked weakly, "Can you control your hollow powers?"

Kurosaki nodded. "For the most part."

Hokkaido had mostly recovered from his earlier shock and could not contain his curiosity any longer. "Can I see your hollow powers?"

Kurosaki's gaze became unfocused yet again and silence stretched between student and teacher for at least five minutes. Finally Kurosaki came out of his trance and, looking and sounding extremely displeased, "I'll let you meet Shiro…" Hokkaido barely caught the end of Kurosaki's sentence, an ending Hokkaido wasn't sure he was supposed to hear, "…because Zangetsu is forcing me to materialize him." Hokkaido didn't have time to puzzle over who this "Zangetsu" character was, since he was too busy closely watching Kurosaki as the freshman closed his eyes. Hokkaido stumbled back, gasping, as a sudden surge of hollow reiatsu radiated from Kurosaki. Hokkaido's eyes bulged as a white figure appeared next to Kurosaki. Hokkaido gaped as the figure (who looked like a white doppelganger of Kurosaki) opened its eyes.

Gold irises and black sclera. Kurosaki's hollow-self was who he had run into Sunday.

All the startling revelations and sudden intense surge of hollow reiatsu became too much for Hokkaido, who, at 950 years old, was elderly for Soul Society. Coupled with the hollow reiatsu's strength (nine) versus Hokkaido's own reiatsu (six)…

He fainted.

* * *

**Update 11/16/09: **I'm sorry for making that stupid mistake with Hokkaido's age. I was thinking in terms of living world ages, not SS ages... Thanks to all those who pointed out that mistake! ^_^'

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I had fun writing the last part! ^_^ I hope y'all aren't too mad at me for revealing some of Ichi's secrets, but I couldn't find a way to get Ichigo to wriggle out of that problem without giving up some of his secrets. Besides, what fun is a fic when all the character's secrets are revealed all at once?

YAYZ!! Only two weeks between updates!!! Hooray!!!!

I'm going to answer some of the most frequently asked questions:

Q: Is there going to be a paradox?

A: Yes.

Q: Can we see more of Renji and Rukia?

A: Of course! I just need to get past this mini-plotline, then Renji and Rukia will show up a lot more often.

Q: Will Ichigo train Rukia?

A: Probably, but I'm having troubles about when I should put that tidbit into the fic…

Q: Will the storylines from the manga/anime appear in this fic?

A: OF COURSE!! I just need time to get to them, that's all…

ACK! Sorry if Renji seemed a bit OOC; I don't really have the best grasp of his Academy personality. I know that he's not as hotheaded as when he's a lieutenant (except when he makes a mistake), that he's not too great at bookwork (read: he's kinda dumb), and that he's a braggart, but that's all I can think of at the moment… Besides, at this point in time, he's trying to impress Rukia (one-sided love, remember?), so he can't be flying off the handle at every little thing.

A thousand thank to **Dracco** for putting the hell butterfly scene in my head; he/she reviewed for chapter 8 and I'm finally putting his/her idea to good use!! Thank you!!

-HM


	19. Missing Link

**Disclaimer: **Do we have to go through this again?

Ichigo - _Hi_

Shiro - **Hi**

Zangetsu - /_Hi_/

* * *

Chapter 18 – Missing Link

Ichigo's head snapped up as he heard Hokkaido groan and shift on the ground. The hoho teacher had been out cold for a half hour and Ichigo had used the time to get rid of his anger and frustration at the situation by ranting at Shiro and Zangetsu (who had materialized) and using several Getsuga Tenshos to reshape the terrain of the northern end of the clearing. Ichigo was especially annoyed at Zangetsu, who had been directing Ichigo's actions during Hokkaido's interrogation.

Zangetsu vanished from the clearing and returned to Ichigo's inner world just as Hokkaido's eyes fluttered open. Hokkaido groaned again and sat up slowly before murmuring, "Where am I?" He obviously hadn't completely regained consciousness yet.

"**Did he lose his memory again?**" Shiro muttered, incorrectly reading Hokkaido's body language.

Shiro's high-pitched voice apparently startled Hokkaido out of his stupor, and he scrambled away from the hollow.

"He won't hurt you," Ichigo sighed.

Hokkaido shakily stood. "You're the one I ran into last Sunday, aren't you?" Hokkaido asked, addressing Shiro. Seeing Shiro incline his head, Hokkaido said to Ichigo, "Are you sure?"

Ichigo scowled. "Yes."

Hokkaido took a deep breath to help rein in his instincts and emotions. He turned to Shiro. "What are you? You're obviously part hollow, because of your reiatsu, but I don't see a mask or hole…"

Shiro rolled his eyes. "**Of course you don't see the mask or hole; I'm an inner hollow, which is the reflection of a Shinigami. Inner hollows take on the Shinigami's appearance and only have a couple characteristics of a true hollow. I have a hole**-" Shiro tugged on the white shihakusho and it slid away to reveal a hole in the center of his chest where the sternum would be normally, "**-but my true power, which manifests itself as the mask, can only be used by King.**" Shiro jerked his thumb in Ichigo's direction when he saw Hokkaido's confusion at the hollow's nickname for Ichigo. "**I lost my right to use it when King beat me in an inner battle.**" Shiro scowled angrily.

Hokkaido hesitantly asked Ichigo, "Can I… see it?"

Ichigo's face became a blank mask. _No!_

/_Yes! If you don't let him know everything about your hollow powers, he'll likely turn us in to the Shinigami._/

_He might turn us in anyway, you know._

/_He probably won't if we show him that we're not a threat. I, for one, do not wish to be running around the Seireitei or Rukongai with Shinigami at your heels because of the dire consequences it would have on the timeline. I can't imagine you managing to rescue Rukia with only shikai if the Shinigami had experience mobilizing and repelling intruders in the Seireitei._/

_No! We've already told him too much!_

Shiro, hearing the conversation through the mental link, cut in. **Idiot. Listen to Zangetsu. He's thinking rationally. You're not. Use your reason; you've had it longer than me!**

_I – what? _Ichigo gasped, barely restraining himself from showing an outward reaction to Shiro's statement.

**You heard me. It's your own fault for not noticing how much Urahara's thingy changed me. Even I don't know what the full effects are, seeing as all the Shinigami reiatsu in this place is muffling my senses.**

Ichigo mentally glared at Shiro, knowing that the hollow would receive the sensation across the mental link. _Why didn't you tell us this?! Having a reiatsu-sensing impairment is a serious disability, __**especially **__if you can't tell how much your own power has changed!_

**Like you're one to talk.**

Zangetsu interrupted Ichigo before he could retaliate. /_Stop stalling, Ichigo. Put on the mask._/

_NO!_

/_**NOW!**_/ Both Shiro and Zangetsu commanded.

Ichigo jumped at the strength of the yell, causing Hokkaido to wonder what was going on with the freshman. This was the longest time he'd zoned out yet…

Ichigo sent Shiro and Zangetsu physical and mental scathing glares. _Don't blame me for the consequences of this._

Ichigo reluctantly reached up to his head, hollow reiatsu curling around his hand as he prepared to summon his mask. Taking a deep breath, Ichigo wrenched his hand downward. He relaxed slightly as he felt the familiar sensation of the hollow reiatsu solidifying and taking on distinct shape on his face. Ichigo was mildly puzzled when he felt the mask settle a bit heavier than usual on his head, but he brushed it off. Ichigo watched with apprehension and slight amusement as Hokkaido's eyes grew huge and he choked and spluttered like a fish out of water at the sight of the mask. Ichigo turned to Shiro, thinking, _Happy now? _Ichigo was unprepared for Shiro being in much of the same state Hokkaido was in, complete with bulging eyes and slack jaw.

_What? _Ichigo queried.

"**Take it off**," Shiro said so quietly that Ichigo almost missed his words.

_Huh?_

"**Take the mask off and look at it**," Shiro said in the same eerily quiet tone.

/_What is it, Shiro?_/

Shiro ignored Zangetsu's question. "**Now.**"

Ichigo was startled by Shiro's sudden change in mood, and he reached up to pull the mask off. He'd never actually held the mask in hands (save for the times that it had appeared under his shihakusho in the Seireitei), but all the other Vizards were able to manipulate their masks as they wished, so it couldn't be that hard. Ichigo lifted the mask (whose extra weight was starting to make Ichigo uneasy) from his face and was surprised when it nearly disintegrated. Ichigo pumped more hollow reiatsu into the mask (surprising Hokkaido yet again), then flipped the mask over. Ichigo sucked in a sharp breath as he beheld the mask.

The mask's markings had changed dramatically. Instead of the multiple red streaks across the left side of the mask, two thick black stripes ran vertically on both sides of the mask, both crossing their respective eyeholes. (1)

Ichigo was so startled by the mask's new appearance and so disturbed as to what the implications of the mask's change could be that that his fingers grew limp and the mask slipped through his grasp. (2) Ichigo barely registered Hokkaido reaching forward and catching the mask.

"What happened?" Ichigo whispered in disbelief.

Shiro stared at the mask as if it would come alive at any moment and bite him. He'd sensed that his power had shifted, but not to this extent… That Shiro didn't know how much his own power had changed was rather disturbing. Just how much had Urahara's device changed him?

/_Ichigo? Shiro?_/ Zangetsu sounded worried.

_It's the mask, Zangetsu. The mask has changed._

_

* * *

_

Hokkaido stared at the mask in his hands. It was heavier than he'd imagined and exuded an almost tangible menace; it felt as if the mask's hollow reiatsu were trying to crush him to the ground. Hokkaido shivered. This was the kind of power Kurosaki could invoke?

Hokkaido turned his gaze to Ichigo and his hollow counterpart (Hokkaido refused to call it by its name). They'd both gone pale (though Hokkaido was sure how the hollow managed that feat), as if they'd seen a ghost. Hokkaido wasn't sure why they were so stunned; they'd known about the mask, so why did they seem so… afraid? Their reactions were downright odd… Speaking of odd, Kurosaki's behavior had been irregular ever since Hokkaido had demanded answers back at the Academy. He'd been extremely distant and had constantly zoned out, adopting a blank expression on his face. Perhaps he'd been communicating with the hollow… Yes, that was probably what Kurosaki had been doing; he'd seen the hollow's eyes become unfocused when Kurosaki had zoned out. It was rather disturbing that Kurosaki and the hollow were able to communicate mentally…

A thought struck Hokkaido. What had Kurosaki been doing while he was unconscious? Hokkaido looked past Kurosaki and noticed that some of the terrain was differently shaped. Perhaps Kurosaki had been practicing his kido…

Hokkaido stiffened. A third reiatsu was lingering in the clearing. It was very faint, and it felt almost exactly like Kurosaki's signature, but it was definitely there.

"…_because Zangetsu is forcing me to materialize him._" Ichigo's muttered words echoed through Hokkaido's head. Who was this "Zangetsu"?

Hokkaido was about to voice his question when the intense hollow reiatsu from the mask and that Kurosaki had been emitting ever since he'd materialized the mask overcame the barrier of Shinigami reiatsu he'd placed around himself. Hokkaido's breath became labored and the world tilted crazily around him. He didn't notice when he was forced to his knees.

* * *

Ichigo's attention snapped to Hokkaido when the hoho teacher collapsed. Why had-?

/_You're emitting too much hollow reiatsu for his system to take_**.**/ Zangetsu said quietly. Ichigo immediately grabbed the mask (though he avoided looking at it) and dissolved it, noting the immediate decrease in hollow reiatsu. Ichigo glanced at the sky and was alarmed to see that sunset had faded into night. He pushed the disconcerting thoughts about his mask to the fringes of his mind; he needed to focus on Hokkaido. The mask would have to wait until later.

"It's time to go back," Ichigo murmured. He was about to sling Hokkaido over his shoulder when the hoho teacher croaked, "Wait. Two last questions."

Ichigo grew slightly uneasy. "Yes?"

"Can you control _him_ and what happens when he uses the mask?"

"**I have a name, you know**," Shiro snapped.

Ichigo's voice became cold. "I can prevent him from doing anything drastically harming to myself and those around me. Besides, he's not a mindless killer; he could have killed Kaede yesterday, but he didn't."

"Then what exactly happened yesterday?" Hokkaido grunted.

Ichigo's voice became frostier. "Shiro got annoyed at Kaede, so he took over and scared her into silence. He only took over because I wasn't vigilant, and it won't happen again."

"He can take over your body?" Hokkaido wheezed, struggling to rise.

"Yes. Just because he can doesn't mean he will and just because he's a hollow doesn't mean that he'll go on random killing rampages!" Ichigo's eyes flashed as he ruthlessly controlled his emotions. "We should go now," he said icily.

"You didn't answer my second question."

Ichigo's body went rigid. "He can't use the mask's full abilities now, so why does it matter?" Before Hokkaido could protest, Shiro disappeared into Ichigo's inner world and Hokkaido found himself slung over Ichigo's shoulder again. After the thirty minute trip through the forest, Ichigo dumped Hokkaido on the ground at the Academy and sped off towards his dorm. Hokkaido stood (having regained his strength), idly noted that he'd been dropped in the exact spot he'd run into the hollow on Sunday, and meandered into his room, contemplating all of the astounding revelations he'd discovered that night. He was annoyed to find that he had more questions than answers.

Ichigo was readmitted into his dorm by Renji and Rukia, who complained about the length of time that Ichigo was gone before sneaking back to their respective dorms.

_I hope we're not kicked out_, Ichigo thought, focusing on the least disturbing event that had happened that night (namely, Hokkaido discovering Shiro).

**We're pathetic. Two weeks and we're already found out.**

/_Ichigo?_/

_Yes?_

/_You do know that suppressing emotion is bad for you, right?_/

_What brought that on?_

/_Because there is a swirling vortex of confusion, fear, and turmoil on the horizon of your inner world, and I don't like it._/

_I'll release my emotions later. The mask thing is too disturbing to think about right now._

**I agree with him.**

Ichigo was about to fall asleep when something that Shiro had said earlier registered. _Since when were you so attached to your name? I was under the impression that you didn't like or want a name when I gave it to you, Shiro. _Shiro gave an annoyed huff before breaking contact with Ichigo.

* * *

Saturday passed. Ichigo was surprised at the end of the day; nothing major had happened. Hokkaido had avoided Ichigo; he was obviously still brooding about the information he'd discovered the previous night. He hadn't told the other teachers about Shiro, for which Ichigo was glad. Sunday passed. Ichigo trained again in the clearing, focusing strictly on Shinigami powers. Shiro was sparring with him, but neither contestant used his full strength, as both were rather preoccupied with their own thoughts. A week passed. Ichigo was stunned that a week had passed since Hokkaido had found out about Shiro with nothing significant (positive or negative) happening. No Shinigami appeared at the Academy to arrest him, and Hokkaido still steered clear of him. Kaede was distant, as well, but that was to be expected. Life went on as if Friday night's confrontation had never happened.

Ichigo, Shiro, and Zangetsu still hadn't discussed the changed mask. The whirlpool of negative emotions in Ichigo's inner world grew slightly, but it did not disrupt Ichigo's equilibrium. All in all, the week went by fairly uneventfully.

Until Friday's kido class.

Hell butterflies took a week to mature and hatch. The students' eggs hatched during Friday's kido class, including Ichigo's egg. Due to the amount of reiatsu, both hollow and Shinigami (3), shoved into the egg, Ichigo's hell butterfly was… well…

"Kurosaki," Kiyosugi ground out. "What is that?"

"Umm… Ichigo stuttered. He'd had no idea that he'd accidentally put a gigantic amount of reiatsu into the egg, so he was just as shocked as Kiyosugi.

"Maybe I put a little too much reiatsu into the egg…"

Kiyosugi raised an eyebrow. "A little? A little may be one or two inches bigger, but _that-_" Kiyosugi pointed to the butterfly, "-is not 'a little'!" she yelled.

The butterfly in question was the hell butterfly from, well, hell. It had a wingspan over fifteen feet long, and, due to the hollow reiatsu it had absorbed, had a rather sadistic nature; the hollow reiatsu also granted the butterfly fangs dripping with venom. A few students screamed as the butterfly attempted to eat them; they barely escaped the butterfly's fangs by speeding up their movements as much as they possibly could.

Seeing the destruction the butterfly was causing, Ichigo said quickly, "I think I should go now." He fled the kido area.

Kiyosugi realized that, because of Kurosaki's flight, all the responsibility for the incident would be pushed onto herself. She wasn't happy. "KUROSAKI!!"

* * *

Sousuke Aizen trotted up the stone path leading to the Academy alone. He wanted his visit to be informal and unannounced so that he wouldn't have to bring Ichimaru along. Not to mention the students that would line up and gawk at him if they were forewarned of his arrival. Sometimes it was better to do things with a bit less paparazzi; namely, discreetly reviewing the promising Academy students.

The Academy gates came into view. Aizen strode toward them confidently and entered without any problems. The grounds were strangely deserted, making Aizen wonder what event had caused the students to relocate; their reiatsu was huddled in small clumps further into the Academy.

A screaming freshman girl tearing across the courtyard was the only warning he got before huge jaws clamped around his right arm. Aizen hissed as his arm began to feel as if it were in an inferno; whatever was trying to eat him obviously was venomous. Aizen turned slightly to look at his attacker and felt his eyes pop. How the hell had that mutant hell butterfly been created?

No matter; it would be destroyed soon anyway. Aizen invoked a level seventy hado and sliced the butterfly into tiny fragments. Aizen clutched his arm to stem the bleeding and cut off the flow of blood; there was no telling what havoc the venom could wreck on his body if the venom made it to his heart. Aizen then shunpoed all the way to the 4th squad, but unbeknownst to him, a few people at the Academy noticed his departure. Aizen glared at the bite, which was beginning to swell purple. It was the most embarrassing injury he'd ever received. Why hadn't he sensed the butterfly? Was hiding its reiatsu one of its abilities as a mutant?

Aizen blinked as an idea came to him. If mutant hell butterflies could hide their reiatsu, could mutant hollows, or Arrancar? Hiding one's reiatsu was a Shinigami trait; if the perfect Arrancar were created, would it be able to conceal its reiatsu as well? If so, perhaps a hollow that could conceal its reiatsu would be one step closer to being a perfect Arrancar. Perhaps this was the stepping stone Aizen needed to create the perfect Arrancar without the Hougyoku.

* * *

OMAKE!!!

Okay, I wanted to put this scene in the middle of chapter 15, but it just didn't work out; it was too light-hearted in what I wanted to be a serious chapter. I made this scene with the assumption that Isshin is a born-and-bred Japanese, allowing very few Western influences (at least with food) to reach his children. Enjoy.

Ichigo's eyes flickered open at 7:45. Something had changed. Ichigo didn't know what, but his gut instinct told him that something bad had happened. (A/N: Hokkaido just got released from the infirmary, remember?)

**You feel it too, huh? **Shiro asked softly.

Ichigo mentally nodded before glancing at the clock at his bedside. "Aw, crap! I overslept!" _Why didn't I wake up at the 6:00 bell?! _Ichigo jumped out of bed, threw on his clothes, and dashed to breakfast.

"Well, well. Look who finally decided to show up," Rukia teased as she saw her friend run through the doors.

"Darn it!" Ichigo snarled, ignoring Rukia's comment. He had been raised 100% Oriental. As such, he had a bowl of white rice and the occasional random piece of fruit for breakfast every day. Since he was so late, only Western pancakes and sausages were left.

"Hey, they're pretty good once you get used to the silverware!" Kaede defended while waving a fork through the air.

"Be careful with that! You'll poke my eye out!" Renji snapped as the fork flew too close to his face for comfort.

Sighing, Ichigo grabbed a plate and put a few pancakes and sausages on it. He looked longingly at the chopsticks before grabbing a fork and knife. He'd learned to use Western utensils when he was younger, but he'd never been very good at it.

Once Kaede had coached him through the usage of Western silverware, Ichigo steeled himself before taking a bite of the syrup soaked pancake. His eyes widened as the combination of sweet syrup and grainy pancake hit his tongue.

"Pretty good, huh?" Kaede commented as Ichigo began to voraciously tear into the pancakes he'd gotten. After finishing the pancakes, Ichigo stabbed his fork into one of the sausages and took a bite. When he discovered that the sausages tasted even better with a little bit of syrup, the sausages began to disappear down his throat faster than the pancakes did.

"I think he eats even faster than Renji and me," Kaede commented, eyeing the speed at which the Western breakfast disappeared.

"Any final comments?" Rukia queried, eyes twinkling with amusement.

"I'm gonna kill my old man for not introducing me to pancakes," Ichigo mumbled through a mouthful of sausage. "I'm going back for seconds."

By the end of the meal, Ichigo, Shiro, and Zangetsu had forgotten about the feeling of foreboding they had felt.

* * *

…That was rather anticlimactic, wasn't it? Although, that's the last comic relief you'll be seeing in this story for a while; it'll get more serious from chapter 19 onward. Even Aizen's run-in with the butterfly (can it be called that?!) has an undercurrent of menace in it; in this timeline, that event is what piqued Aizen's interest in hollows that can control their reiatsu. We all know how those hollows ended up…

Did anyone catch the "mistake" I made in the chapter? Ichigo and Shiro technically ARE ghosts, so why would they be afraid of ghosts? I just put that in there to see if anyone caught that. ^_^

There is a distinct difference between poison and venom. Poison is ingested (like through food) and venom is injected (like through a snake's fangs).

This chapter was written and posted in honor of Sil's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIL!!!!!!

Wow. The 24th will mark the 1-year anniversary that TT has been on the Internet. O.O When I started it, I had no idea that it would become this detailed or that so many people would be reading it. THANK YOU FOR READING AND REVIEWING! I 3 YOU ALL!!!!!

(1) It's the mask Ichigo puts on in chapters 378-379.

(2) The markings on hollow masks are all different. Because the markings on Ichigo's mask have changed so much, it's almost as if Shiro's become a different hollow. The number of red streaks throughout the series did increase, but that was because of Shiro's growing power. Shiro's power has drastically increased, but he can't tell how much his power's changed because all the Shinigami reiatsu in Seireitei is messing with his senses. The mask is the same mask Ichigo used in Hueco Mundo; Shiro's power spiked in Hueco Mundo because, well, he's a hollow in Hueco Mundo. Chad's power spiked in Hueco Mundo, so why wouldn't Shiro's? That's probably why he was able to take over to fight Ulquiorra (though having Ichigo stabbed and dying probably helped) and why he was so much stronger. Shiro's full power was probably that mask with the horns, but he hasn't reached that kind of power at this point in time. Okay, let me sum that up for you: Shiro and Ichi are spooked because they don't know how much Shiro's power has changed, and they don't know if it's a positive or negative change, either.

(3) Kiyosugi didn't notice the hollow reiatsu being put into the egg Friday because she was preoccupied with her thoughts at the time.

-HM


	20. 19&20 Familiar Incidents&Important Visit

Disclaimer: Again…?

Shiro: Hi

Ichigo's thoughts: _Hi_

Zangetsu: /_Hi_/

* * *

Chapter 19 – Familiar Incidents

The hell butterfly incident blew over with no casualties and minimal property damage. Thankfully, after a long lecture from the principal, Ichigo was let off the hook with only a week's worth of cleaning the cafeteria after dinner. Half of the student population shunned him for his accidental creation of the butterfly, but the other half praised him for it. Once again Ichigo was at the center of attention, with wild rumors flying everywhere about his power level. After all, only an extremely powerful individual could have put enough reiatsu into the egg to create a butterfly of that size. Ichigo was rather startled that some of the rumors that were degraded by others as fantastical were actually uncannily accurate. Ichigo had heard a couple of the students speculate that some of the butterfly's unnatural growth and abilities could be explained by hollow reiatsu or a captain's reiatsu, complete with shikai and bankai, that the egg had somehow absorbed while the butterfly was still growing. One of the other rumors Ichigo found to be extremely amusing was the rumor that one of the captains had been attacked by the butterfly, who retaliated by destroying the butterfly. It certainly did explain the butterfly's mysterious disappearance, since no one saw what had happened to it when it disappeared.

The whirlwind of suppressed emotion on the edge of Ichigo's soul had grown to the size of a cyclone, but it had thankfully not made an advancement towards the center of Ichigo's soul. Fortunately, only a few of the buildings on the fringes of Ichigo's mind were destroyed by the hurricane, and their loss didn't affect Ichigo at all.

Zangetsu prodded Ichigo on a daily basis to forget his fear and face whatever challenges the change in the mask's appearance signified, but Ichigo stubbornly refused to focus on the subject and even occasionally broke contact with the zanpakuto when he persisted. Zangetsu was becoming frustrated with Ichigo's lack of action, but he knew that he could wait for Ichigo to accept the changes in his power – that, or the hurricane of emotions would break in Ichigo's inner world and cause havoc, forcing Ichigo to confront his fear. Whichever came first.

Ichigo got over his anger at Shiro when the hollow defended him against Zangetsu since he, too, was extremely disturbed by the changes in his power. His argument against the zanpakuto was mostly instinctually based, but there were hints of logic in the hollow's defense. Only Zangetsu picked apart Shiro's argument to that extent; the zanpakuto felt as if he were overlooking some piece of information that should have been obvious, but he just couldn't seem to piece the clues together correctly…

The only communication between Ichigo and Hokkaido outside of class occurred when Hokkaido inquired how Ichigo _really _made the butterfly. Ichigo didn't know how, but suspected that he had pushed way too much reiatsu (Shinigami and otherwise) into the egg. The answer didn't startle Hokkaido as much as Ichigo thought it would.

Kaede seemed to have made a new friend, Momo Hinamori. Ichigo vaguely remembered her as being the lieutenant of the 5th squad and being critically injured by Aizen before he escaped to Hueco Mundo. It was the first time Ichigo had interacted with her outside of class, and he had been focusing too much on trying to appear more-or-less normal to really focus on his classmates (but look how well _that_ turned out). In fact, besides Kaede, Momo, Renji, Rukia, and Ryota, Ichigo didn't know the names of any of his classmates. Though it was probably safe to assume that at least one more future lieutenant was currently in the Academy…

Unfortunately for Ichigo, Momo seemed to have picked up Kaede's habit of never coming within ten meters of him, so he never could properly interact with the future lieutenant. She and Kaede also seemed to develop a penchant for studying in the library during every spare second of free time they had. Ichigo paid little attention to their strange behavior.

Fortunately for Ichigo, Sunday's training session (again, Ichigo only trained with Shinigami powers; surprisingly, Shiro was content to watch Zangetsu and Ichigo spar), Monday, and Tuesday passed with no nasty surprises. Of course, everything went down the drain on Wednesday…

* * *

(Wednesday morning)

Ichigo blinked as a substitute took Kiyosugi's usual spot at the front of the kido classroom.

"Kiyosugi-sensei and Ikoto-sensei are not feeling well, so I will be taking their places for this kido class and the following freshman zanjutsu class," he explained. "Kiyosugi-sensei has asked me to begin a study of the most commonly used low-level hado spells. You have been learning basic bakudo and the first two hado spells for the last month, correct?" The class murmured an affirmative. "Very well. We'll focus on hado 4, Byakurai, and hado 31, Shakkaho. Any questions?" A mumbled negative answered him.

Ichigo flipped open his textbook and began to memorize the incantations of the two hado spells that he was most familiar with, as one was Rukia's favorite spell and the other had punched a hole in his shoulder. Ichigo felt slightly concerned with the use of the spells, since he knew exactly how the spells were not supposed to turn out – Renji's failed "demonstration" of Shakkaho was not something he wanted to experience first-hand. The problem was forcing his reiatsu into the correct shape and power level instead of letting it run rampant… Ichigo's normal reiatsu control had improved to the point where he'd stopped blowing the dummies sky-high, but he was still better at his abnormal reiatsu control. Unfortunately, the abnormal reiatsu control wasn't compatible with normal kido. Still, Ichigo was fairly certain that he'd be able to perform the kido without blowing himself up.

After giving the class adequate time to prepare, the substitute took the class outside for target practice. The field was devoid of the usual wooden dummies, and targets of varying heights were lined up against the barrier.

The substitute divided the students into three groups. One group at a time would line up at the line and fire Shakkaho at the targets while the other groups sat behind them and watched. Momo and Kaede were in the first group, a blond-haired teen that looked like one of the future lieutenants was in the second group, and Renji and Ichigo were in the third group.

"Alright! Group one, to the line!"

"Hai!" Momo, Kaede, and about seven other students stood and approached the line.

"Hado practice, begin!"

"Hai!" Ichigo watched as Momo extended her right arm, palm flat and facing the target. She supported her right arm with her left to help absorb the recoil of the shot. There was an unusually serious expression on her face. As Momo chanted the spell, her reiatsu flared crimson around her and a red ball of fiery reiatsu condensed before her hand. When Momo finished the chant the ball arched gracefully from her hand and nicked one of the targets. Momo looked momentarily astonished, then her expression melted into a happy grin. She then turned and dashed to sit next to Kaede as the second group was called up. Ichigo listened to their conversation as the future lieutenant prepared to fire his Shakkaho.

"That's amazing, Momo-chan! How'd you do it?" Kaede gasped.

"I only hit the corner – probably just luck," Momo admitted.

"I'm still impressed! None of the others even reached the targets!" Kaede responded. Momo giggled, slightly embarrassed by her friend's praise. The rest of their conversation was interrupted by the sound of breaking wood as the blond future lieutenant's Shakkaho hit the target dead-center. Gasps arose from the audience.

"Was that the blond guy's shot?" Ichigo heard Momo wonder. "Amazing! I think he hit a perfect bulls-eye!" Amazed muttering rose up around the blond as he returned to his spot. Ichigo noticed Renji watching the future lieutenant jealously. The idiot was probably plotting to try and replicate the shot.

"Group three to the line!"

"Hai!"

Ichigo prepared himself to try his first Shakkaho when movement flickered in the corner of his eye.

"Hado 31-"

_Is he planning to try Shakkaho without the chant?!_ Ichigo edged away from Renji. _He's not that good yet!_

"-Shakkaho Red Flame Cannon!" Red light flared dangerously in front of Renji's palm before exploding, creating dust clouds that obscured Renji's figure and sending most of the other students flying. It took about two seconds for this to register in Ichigo's brain before he started snickering. He heard Shiro laughing hysterically and even a few chuckles emerged from Zangetsu. However, most of the other students did not share Ichigo's amusement when he heard their remarks, including a "He could have killed us all!" from Momo and an "An explosion? What in the…" from the future lieutenant. Ichigo saw their cause for concern, as the explosion's backlash had blown back more people than just the students in group three (minus himself, as he'd been prepared). Some of the students that had been sent flying had landed in rather interesting positions; one had even landed in the position Ichigo had landed in when he'd shot out of Urahara's makeshift Senkaimon.

The dust clouds cleared. Ichigo's snickers turned into full-blown laughter. Renji was covered head-to-foot with black scorch marks. Smoke wafted from his upper body and he had a rather dazed expression on his face. His arms had been blasted to the side and his spiky hair was even wilder than usual. After a few seconds, Renji's mouth fell open and a few smoke rings wafted out.

"You," the substitute pointed to Renji, "Special instruction and extra practice after class." The students' fright had apparently mostly vanished at this point, as they began to laugh at Renji.

"H-hai," Renji said weakly. He still looked dazed and confused as he stumbled back to his seat.

"The rest of group three, retry the hado," the substitute ordered.

Ichigo suppressed his snickers and held his arm out, taking a stance similar to Momo's stance. "Ye lord! Mask of flesh and blood, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hado 31, Shakkaho Red Flame Cannon!"

A red ball flared dangerously bright in Ichigo's palm before part of the spell went awry. Ichigo hissed as half of the spell's energy licked up his arms as flames and set his uniform on fire while the other half of his spell took off at high speed in a straight line toward the target. Ichigo immediately ripped the top part of his uniform off and began to stomp on it. A small part of him registered a crash in the background as he tore the charred sleeves off of the uniform and replaced the garment. Ichigo glanced at the targets and was surprised to see that he target he'd been aiming for had been punched through, just like the blond future lieutenant's target. Perhaps his kido aim had been inadvertently improved at the same time his Getsuga Tenshos got more accurate.

"Impressive, considering that most of the energy of the spell recoiled to you. I'll be seeing you with Abarai after class," the substitute said. Ichigo returned to his seat, pleased that he had hit the target and hadn't killed anyone accidentally. Ichigo was slightly annoyed that the substitute felt the need to talk to him and Renji after class, though. He wasn't a kido teacher…

"That was incredible! Even though your hado lost a lot of energy to those flames, it was still able to reach the target! And your aim wasn't off at all! I wish I had that kind of energy," one of the male students exclaimed as Ichigo sat down. "But where did you get all of those scars?"

"Huh? Oh, those scars…" Ichigo's torso was riddled with scars from his invasion of the Seireitei. There were the slashes he'd gotten from Renji, the stabs that cut his Soul Chain and Soul Sleeve from Byakuya, the place on his upper right chest where Byakuya's Byakurai had punched a painful hole, the injuries from his fight with Kenpachi, the scar along his belly where Aizen had nearly cut him in half… It was a long list of injuries. Grimacing, Ichigo examined his right arm where Ikkaku had injured it in that fight to see if there was a scar. A faint line was visible under the cracked red skin from Ichigo's burns. Shaking himself from his reminiscing, Ichigo replied softly, "I'd rather not talk about it."

"Oh. Okay." The student sounded disappointed, but his voice quickly regained its enthusiastic quality. "You should probably stop by the infirmary after class; those burns on your arms look pretty nasty."

"Or maybe you should go now with the red-haired guy… Abarai? … You both look really beat up," Another student butted in. "Sensei!"

"Yes?"

"Should Abarai-san and, uh-"

"Ichigo Kurosaki."

"-Kurosaki-san go to the infirmary?"

The substitute studied the trance-like state Renji was in and Ichigo's burned arms. Wincing as he beheld Ichigo's arms, he said, "Go ahead. And get into a clean uniform while you're gone." Ichigo stood, helped Renji to his feet, and headed toward the infirmary.

* * *

"Oh dear," one of the nurses said as she caught sight of the two students that had just entered the infirmary. "This way. We'll get you cleaned up." She led Ichigo and Renji to separate chairs and began to tend to Renji's burns. Another nurse began to heal Ichigo's arms, shaking her head at their severity. Ichigo was slightly surprised that the pain wasn't as severe as it should have been, considering the state of his arms.

/_Perhaps you have experienced severe pain so often that milder pain like this is automatically ignored._/ Zangetsu suggested.

_Maybe. What's Shiro doing? He's been awfully quiet…_

/_He fell asleep shortly after your Shakkaho._/

_Him, sleeping? I would have thought that he'd have wanted to mock my kido since Kiyosugi's not here… I wonder how he got so tired._

After about a half hour, the second nurse said, "You're all healed. You can go back to class after you tell us your names."

"Ichigo Kurosaki and Renji Abarai." By now, Renji was looking considerably more aware and a slight blush was present on his face. After exiting the infirmary, Ichigo addressed Renji.

"Stop beating yourself up, you idiot. I saw a lot of people who had really bad kido. You just need to say the chant and I'm sure you won't blow yourself up again."

"I made a fool of myself in front of everyone," Renji mumbled. "I can't believe I made such a stupid mistake…"

"Well, the whole point of going through this Academy is to improve, right? Besides, you don't need to be a kido master to be a kick-ass Shinigami. Just look at the 11th squad."

Renji's lips twitched upwards slightly. "That's very true…"

"C'mon, let's go get cleaned up so we don't catch hell from the substitute."

"You don't know who that is?! That's Akihiro Nakajima, advanced 6th year zanjutsu teacher and 7th year kido teacher. He's famous for his tough attitude, and he's known to treat students harshly to make them improve. I can't believe that the, of all the teachers, would be substituting for our classes."

Ichigo abruptly recognized his surroundings and cut off Renji's next comment. "My dorm's on this floor. See you in a bit."

* * *

"It's good of you two to join us for the end of class. We're practicing Byakurai on the targets. Rejoin your classmates and don't blow yourselves up again," Nakajima ordered as Ichigo and Renji returned to the kido field. A few students watched them warily as they sat in their respective spots.

"Group three up!"

"Hai!"

Ichigo carefully watched as Renji chanted the spell and a thin line of blue lightning shot from his palms. It flew halfway down the field before flickering out. Ichigo's spell had way too much energy and exploded into multiple smaller shots of lightning because his focus was on Renji's Byakurai instead of his own. Renji looked angry and humiliated as he returned to his spot. It didn't help that the blond future lieutenant's kido had been perfectly aimed and executed.

Ichigo inwardly sighed. _It's going to be a long day…_

_

* * *

_

You do want the next chapter, right?

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Keep going...

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Keep going…

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Chapter 20 – Important Visitors

After kido class, Nakajima took Ichigo and Renji aside and gave them some tips about reiatsu control and how to use a large amount of reiatsu effectively with kido. Several of the tips weren't recorded in any of the textbooks, and Ichigo hoped that they'd help him with his kido. They had certainly helped with Ichigo's Shakkaho, since Ichigo's spell for extra practice didn't harm him and Renji's spell didn't blow up in his face. Though his abnormal form of reiatsu control was immensely effective when he wanted to deal devastating kido blows to his opponent, Ichigo also wanted to learn the normal kido, as it seemed to be extremely useful. Bakudo 61: Rikujoukourou (the Six Bars of Light) and Hado 90: Kurohitsugi (Black Coffin) seemed to be particularly effective. Ichigo could only imagine the look on Aizen's face if he used Aizen's favorite kido against him.

During zanjutsu, the students sparred one-on-one while the rest of the class watched. Ichigo was slightly surprised that Nakajima was substituting for that class as well.

"Match three: Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Momo Hinamori!"

Ichigo was surprised that he was paired with the future lieutenant and wondered how skilled she was at zanjutsu at the beginning of her training. Wasn't she more of a kido expert?...

"Begin!" Ichigo shoved away any distracting thoughts and focused on Momo. Ichigo subconsciously analyzed her fighting style and immediately found many gaping holes in her defense and inconsistencies in her attack. For a future lieutenant, she was very bad at zanjutsu.

_High center of gravity so she'll be easy to knock off balance; puts all of her strength and speed into uncontrolled dashes; very weak defense with holes above, behind, and beside her. _As Ichigo smacked the wooden sword from Momo's hands, he thought, _She's got a long way to go before she'll be considered proficient at zanjutsu…_

"Winner: Kurosaki!" For some reason, Momo didn't look at all upset that she'd lost. Maybe she could tell when she was majorly outclassed.

/_Why don't you analyze the other students' fighting styles and try predicting the winners of the matches?_/

_Huh?_

/_If you're able to quickly find flaws in your opponent's fighting style, you'll be able to defeat him or her fairly quickly and efficiently. Didn't you see how easy defeating Momo was?_/

_But that was because she was so much worse than I was…_

Zangetsu sighed. /_If you had been fighting Grimmjow and found a flaw in his fighting style, wouldn't it be relatively easy to exploit that flaw and gain the upper hand in battle?_/

_Well, I guess…_

For the next six matches Ichigo noted the combatants' strengths and weaknesses and had accurately predicted the winner for three of the matches. Ichigo could tell that Zangetsu wasn't too pleased that Ichigo wasn't very good at predicting the victors of the matches. Ichigo hoped he would improve while he was at the Academy. While Ichigo was great at finding the weaknesses in the students' fighting styles, he was not good at comparing the combatants' strengths to weaknesses and figuring out which strength would take advantage of which weakness. As the students from the previous match trudged back to their places in the crowd, Ichigo thought, _You know, I could do this in hakuda too. It would be useful if I ever had to fight against an opponent that mainly used hakuda and hoho, like Yoruichi-san. _Zangetsu sent his approval of Ichigo's decision.

"Match nine: Izuru Kira vs. Renji Abarai!"

_So the blond future lieutenant is Izuru Kira_, Ichigo thought. _I can't remember anything about him…_

/_He's the third squad's lieutenant, which means that he was Ichimaru's lieutenant. He was manipulated by his captain to unknowingly help Aizen._/ Zangetsu helpfully supplied.

Ichigo watched as Renji and Izuru took their places in the middle of the room and immediately knew that Renji would probably win the match. Renji had unconsciously resolved to defeat Izuru, probably because of the fiasco in kido class. Ichigo could see the determined glint in Renji's eyes. Izuru looked as if he had no motive to win the match other than to get stronger.

"Begin!"

Renji immediately put Izuru on the defensive, using fast and strong slashes to quickly drive Izuru back. Renji abandoned all defense and focused solely on overpowering Izuru. He would have been easy to defeat if another person assaulted him from behind or if Izuru had the strength to counter Renji's ferocious attack. But he didn't; instead, Izuru began to look rather panicked as Renji's slashes began harder and harder for him to block. Finally, Renji momentarily knocked Izuru's sword to the side, giving him an opening to thrust his wooden sword into Izuru's chest. Ichigo winced. _That'll leave a big bruise…_ Izuru flew back and landed on the ground with a cry of pain. Triumph shone in Renji's eyes, though his panting prevented him from showing a victorious facial expression. Renji instead closed his eyes and relaxed.

"Winner: Abarai!"

The rest of the class unfortunately ruined Renji's elation as they crowded around Izuru, inquiring if he was alright and reproaching Renji for his lack of restraint.

"Are you hurt? Can you get up? You didn't have to be so rough!"

"Kira, are you alright?" Nakajima inquired.

"H-hai," Izuru grunted.

Renji looked annoyed that the entire class except Ichigo was sympathetic toward Izuru. He stomped back to the sidelines with a scowl on his face.

* * *

Gin Ichimaru trotted behind his captain on the path to the Academy. Aizen seemed to be in a rather foul mood; a frown marred his normally amicable face (granted, the mellow facial expressions were just an act, but Gin saw them a lot; it wouldn't do for the 5th squad captain to suddenly gain an icy temperament, would it? People would start to watch Aizen's actions a bit more closely) and his walking pace was brisker than usual. Gin hypothesized that Aizen had wanted to make his visit to the Academy unannounced to avoid the mob that would most certainly meet him at the front gate. After more than seventy years of visiting the Academy, Aizen had to have been tired of the students watch him enter the Academy like an animal in the zoo. Gin didn't mind too much, since the students' eyes were usually riveted on the friendly-looking captain instead of the scary-looking lieutenant. Gin knew that his sly grin and narrowed eyes made many people very uneasy, and he enjoyed seeing the fear reflected in their eyes. The lower-ranking Shinigami were so fun to tease.

The Academy gates came into view. Gin knew that Aizen wouldn't want him to scare the students away because of his "foxy" (as so many people liked to call it) demeanor, so he schooled his expression into a neutral, mischievous little grin and watched as Aizen's frown faded away. His captain still didn't have the usual smile on his face though…

Oh well. There was no time to inform him of his stern expression, since at least a couple of students would hear him.

_Welcome back to the Academy_, Gin thought mockingly.

* * *

After zanjutsu, Ichigo grabbed a few rice balls from the cafeteria and headed outside to sit with Renji under an oak tree. He looked like he was napping.

"Hey, Ichigo." Renji cracked open an eye as Ichigo approached. He sounded a bit more listless than usual.

"If you're worried about what happened during class, don't be," Ichigo sighed. "We're training to be Shinigami, right? We shouldn't get coddled by the teachers when we'll be thrust into life-or-death situations when we graduate. Besides, the best way to learn is to gain a bruise for every mistake you make. That way, you'll be less likely to make the same mistake again." Ichigo had noticed that this Renji was a lot more insecure than the Renji he knew; maybe it had something to do with Renji's origins. After all, most of the students came from lower districts than Inuzuri, and some even mocked Renji because of it.

"It's not that; it's just… I really wanted to beat him because he was so much better than me in kido, you know? Not to mention that my first attempt at Shakkaho went badly…" Renji glared at Ichigo. "You didn't have to laugh so hard, you know."

Ichigo just snickered, but then his facial expression grew distant as he thought back to the zanjutsu class. "You had some pretty impressive resolve during zanjutsu, you know."

Renji looked slightly confused. "Resolve?..."

" 'When I defend, I won't be cut. When I protect, I won't let that person die. When I attack, I kill.' It's a lesson I learned from Ur – my sensei. It's the resolve to win and has helped me to defeat multiple tough opponents."

Renji exclaimed, "You had a previous sensei in the Shinigami arts?!" at the same time as a familiar voice said, "Sounds interesting, yet rather morbid."

Renji quickly forgot about Ichigo's sensei, to Ichigo's relief. "Oh, it's you."

"Do you mind if I join you?" Izuru queried.

"Ah… sure."

"Thanks." Izuru took a seat on the side of the tree opposite Ichigo. He flexed his wrist back and forth as he stated, "I have to admit, you really let me have it in class. I was so overwhelmed by your strength that I couldn't even counterattack. My whole arm is still numb."

"Well, I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean anything by it. But I kind of messed up at target practice earlier, so I felt like I needed to make up for that. Of course Ichigo here thinks that I used killer intent to win the match." Renji glared at Ichigo.

Ichigo returned the glare. "Resolve is not the same as killer intent, dumbass. Resolve is the will to defeat your opponent; killer intent is the resolution to kill your enemy. Sometimes the two overlap, but they are definitely not the same thing."

Izuru looked interested. "So that's what you were talking about when I came over. I've never heard of resolve before; I wonder if the technique is only taught to upperclassmen?"

Ichigo glowered at Izuru as best as he could from his position on the opposite side of the tree. "Resolve isn't a technique; it's a mindset. If all lower level Shinigami believe this, then they'll never be able to advance…"

Izuru looked thoughtful for a moment before responding. "There is so much more to being a good Shinigami than just mastering zanjutsu, hakuda, hoho, and kido, isn't there? We've definitely got our work cut out for us if we're going to advance to a seated officer's position." Renji nodded his agreement.

Izuru suddenly held out his hand to Renji and Ichigo. "My name's Izuru Kira. It's a pleasure to meet you. Would you tell me your names?"

Ichigo was somewhat taken aback by Izuru's sudden topic change, but Renji had no such hesitation. "Introduction and a handshake, huh? Your family must be from one of the higher districts."

"Eh?"

"Manners aren't my style, but I'm Renji Abarai and the strawberry sitting over there is Ichigo Kurosaki. Good to meet you."

"Ah." Izuru lowered his hand. "Well, it's nice to meet you too." Upon seeing several students running toward the main courtyard, Izuru said, "Huh? What's going on?" Ichigo, Renji and Izuru stood and followed the line of students. Ichigo blinked in surprise when he saw a mob gathered in front of the main Academy building. Ichigo noticed that Momo was near the back of the crowd, which wasn't too advantageous for her, considering her height.

"Hey, what is everybody looking at?" Momo inquired.

Ichigo listened to the male student's answer, as he was just as clueless as Momo. "Oh, one of the Court Guard Squad captains is supposed to be coming any minute to review the class."

Ichigo's heart gave a mighty thud and he barely heard Momo's exclamation of, "Really? A full captain?" Ichigo did a 180 and sped off in the opposite direction. Or, at least, he would have if Izuru hadn't grabbed his arm and prevented him from fleeing. "Don't you want to see the captain, Ichigo-san?"

"Hell no!" Renji and Izuru looked at Ichigo as if he were nuts.

"Making a good impression on a captain will increase your chances of getting into a squad! Do you want to stay at the Academy forever?"

Ichigo snapped, "I just don't want to meet a captain right now, okay?" Renji looked annoyed by Ichigo's answer and was about to grab Ichigo and pull him to the front of the crowd when the students shifted forward, trapping Ichigo, Renji, Izuru, and Momo in the ever-shifting throng.

The captain's reiatsu pulsed through the students, stilling and quieting them. Ichigo froze. He recognized the captain's reiatsu. He had to get away. Now. Zangetsu responded to Ichigo's shock and horror by shutting off Ichigo's reiatsu as much as he possibly could. The pressure from Ichigo's enormous reiatsu, coupled with Ichigo's extreme panic, caused him to make a couple irrational decisions, namely deciding to bowl over the students in his way and even toss a couple into the air in his haste to get away from the captain.

Why did the visiting captain have to be Aizen?

* * *

Momo was excited to see the captain. Captains were the highest-ranking and strongest officers of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. They were masters of all the Shinigami arts and had achieved bankai. Bankai! The ultimate bond with one's zanpakuto that would allow the Shinigami to gain ten times the power of shikai. They also had a huge amount of reiatsu, which Momo felt first-hand when it calmed and quieted the crowd of students. Unfortunately, the sudden cease in pressure from behind caused Momo to lose her balance and stumble forward into the captain's walkway. She quickly stepped back to the edge of the crowd, mortified. The captain would have most certainly seen that.

A commotion behind her caused Momo to briefly glance over her shoulder. She gaped as someone sent some of the other students flying in his or her haste to run away from the captain. But why would that person want to run away from the captain? Didn't he or she want to see one of the most powerful people in the Soul Society? Or didn't he or she at the very least want to make a good impression on the captain? It would be much easier to get into your squad of choice if one of the captains liked you.

Momo's head cleared of all these thoughts the instant she beheld the captain. Just looking at him made her slightly dizzy; his reiatsu was that powerful. Momo didn't pay much attention the lieutenant that was faithfully trailing behind the captain, but she noticed the insignia on the lieutenant's badge at some point. 五. The fifth squad. Captain Aizen and Lieutenant Ichimaru. Momo was amazed. The captain and lieutenant of the best squad were reviewing the Academy?

"A real… captain…" Momo breathed in awe.

* * *

Aizen entered the Academy gates and inwardly glowered at his welcoming committee. The students had all gathered to welcome "the captain", and a clear path for him led straight to the main Academy building. The students also seemed rather rowdy, so Aizen sent a wave of his reiatsu over the crowd. The effect was instantaneous; the students immediately stopped jostling each other in their excitement to see him. One girl lost her balance and stumbled into the pathway. After a few seconds' glance, Aizen deducted two things about the girl: one, she was Momo Hinamori, since Aizen had memorized the four freshmen's faces from the files he'd sifted through; and two, she was completely enamored with him. She would be easy to manipulate.

A flicker of movement appeared in Aizen's peripheral vision. Aizen blinked as the students surrounding the disturbance were pushed aside; a few were even sent flying into the air. Oddly enough, the disturbance seemed to be frantically retreating from Aizen's presence; also, Aizen couldn't get a firm reading on the reiatsu of the disturbance. It was too low and the students' reiatsu were almost completely masking it. For him, Aizen, to not be able to read the reiatsu was remarkable; whoever wanted to flee from him must have been very skilled or very lucky. But why would any of the students want to run from the "kind captain"? Perhaps the person was afraid of Shinigami captains?... But that didn't make sense; why become a Shinigami in the first place if one couldn't stand the captains?

Oh well; Aizen would have to look into it later. It wouldn't do for him to space out in front of the students. At least Aizen was able to locate Renji Abarai and Izuru Kira near the disturbance. They looked rather disturbed by the commotion; perhaps someone they knew was the cause of it. Or maybe they were just unnerved by the person's disregard for him. Their reiatsu were fairly easy to locate and analyze. Both showed enormous potential, as did Hinamori. Perhaps they really would be the perfect pawns in Aizen's plans. Aizen was unable to locate Ichigo Kurosaki in the crowd. Perhaps he'd been behind one of the taller students.

Aizen finally reached the secretary's desk inside the main Academy building. After politely greeting the secretary, Aizen requested the class schedule for the day. It was hastily provided, and Aizen began to scan through the schedule. Gin glanced at the timetable over Aizen's shoulder. Aizen quickly chose the three classes he would attend: the advanced freshman hakuda class; the advanced 7th year kido class; and the first, second, and third year combined Practical Combat class. Aizen would enjoy observing the freshmen he was interested in; after all, they were all in the upcoming hakuda and Practical Combat classes.

Aizen informed Gin of the itinerary for the afternoon. Gin just nodded.

"Let's see if those students are worth the time we put into this visit," Aizen said. Gin's smile became a tad more predatory in response. The traitorous Shinigami exited the building and headed toward the hakuda building.

If anyone looked at the two as they made their way across the grounds, they would have only seen a kind-looking captain and a smiling lieutenant.

* * *

Sorry about the lateness of these chapter_S_. Finals and the organized chaos that occurs before holidays have left me with little free time. Hopefully the fact that this is a double chappy will make up for my lateness.

YES!! I REACHED MY GOAL OF 20 CHAPTERS BEFORE 2010!! Yes, this does count as two chapters.

Some of the quotes in the following chapters are taken directly from both the English dub and English sub anime (more dub than sub, though…). They belong to Tite Kubo, not me. On the other hand, some of the quotes have been tweaked to fit the situation, and those belong to me.

One more thing: I'd like to sincerely thank Daricio for writing a fanfic like "Feeling Hollow", since her idea of 'if too many of the buildings are destroyed in Ichigo's inner world, he'll have problems with motor functions' reminded me of Ichigo's Shattered Shaft trial, and that as his mind disintegrated, he turned into a hollow. That got me thinking, 'what happens when all the buildings are destroyed, but all the material is still there and not obliterated by the hollow's existence? Would Ichigo turn into a hollow, or would he just go insane? What about his emotions during this process? Too many negative emotions in real life can cause bad things to happen, so how is that reflected in Ichigo's mindscape?' So, yeah. The hurricane was born from some critical thinking spurred by Daricio's fic reminding me of the Shattered Shaft. Thank you, Daricio.

Ok people, please ignore the following paragraph. I was just venting my frustration at a flamer.

Now, I got a flame for chapter 7 about a month ago and have been stewing over it this entire time. The flame reads like this: "_Hey! I use tens of thousands of question marks for no reason at all; I'm such a good writer! Sense my sarcasm. I honestly feel like smacking you upside the head for such stupidity. Great, you like your emphasis - doesn't mean you need to fill the whole story up with your idiotic spamming. Fix it. Now. It makes me weep with envy of your absolute ignorance, coupled with extreme redundancy and plain lack of intelligence. Yes, I did just insult you. Yes, you deserved it. Start doing something about it -- something useful._" First of all, within the chapter, there are VERY few question marks; the only punctuation marks in abundance are exclamation marks. You called my story spamming – the official definition of 'spamming' is 'unsolicited e-mail, often of a commercial nature, sent indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups; junk e-mail'. Yes, I did copy and paste this from dictionary . com. I do not see how my fic is in any way, shape, or form connected to email, unless you have the story on story or author alert. So chapter 7 is a bit boring – ever heard of the term 'filler'? Actually, there are a lot of important elements in chapter 7, namely Ichigo's first kido class and Hokkaido's blooming paranoia. And what Bleach fic is complete without at least one of the cliché arguments between Ichigo/Rukia/Renji? And if your flame had the intention of insulting my entire story? Well… Let's just say that the lack of evidence surrounding your claim of too many question marks makes you look a bit silly. I honestly feel like smacking you upside the head for your lack of insight and empathy. The whole purpose of fanfiction . net is to allow novice writers like myself a chance to write a story without needing to completely create a new universe while improving our writing through experience and constructive criticism from the readers. And is it really that hard to read past the exclamation points? Honestly, you need to go back and relearn some of your kindergarten lessons – if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all.

Seriously people, don't flame. It really lowers my morale and does nothing to help my muse.

-HM


	21. Disastrous Circumstances

Disclaimer: Again…?

Shiro: **Hi**

Ichigo's thoughts: _Hi_

Zangetsu: /_Hi_/

* * *

I swear the teachers are trying to kill me. I've had next to no free time, so I apologize if this chapter is really late. I'm trying, people! Hopefully the extra length will make up for the time y'all waited…

* * *

Chapter 21 – Disastrous Circumstances

Renji stomped up the stairs to Ichigo's dorm room, barely registering Izuru trailing uncertainly behind him. Renji stopped outside of Ichigo's dorm (and it really wasn't fair that Ichigo had a room on the second floor while Renji was stuck with one on the fifth floor) and pounded on the door. Only silence answered. Annoyed, Renji yelled, "I don't know what got into you, running from the captain like that, but it doesn't matter anymore. I know you're in there and I will break down the door to get inside. You are coming to hakuda – and I'm assuming it's your next class – whether you like it or not!!" With that, Renji began to kick powerfully at the thin wooden door in an attempt to break it down. The door shuddered and creaked alarmingly, but held. Barely.

"Renji-san, I don't think that's a good idea – you don't even know if Ichigo-san is in there!" Izuru protested, grabbing Renji's arm. Unfortunately, Izuru's call for restraint came a little too late, since the door gave a mighty shriek and then buckled, splintering inward in an explosion of wood. Izuru looked appalled, but joined Renji as he stepped over the shattered wood fragments into Ichigo's dorm room. There was nothing personal to identify it as Ichigo's, save for a curious half-shiny, half-dull rock displayed prominently on the dresser. Renji's disdainful snort pulled Izuru's attention from the stone and to Ichigo, who was sprawled out on his bed, seemingly fast asleep. He seemed to be having a nightmare though, since he kept twitching and a scowl was present on his face.

"I wonder how he was able to sleep through the racket you made," Izuru marveled.

"Well, he's not gonna stay like that for long," Renji muttered. "Oi, Ichigo! Wake up!" When there was no response, Renji began to kick his friend in the same manner he had kicked the door down.

"ICHIGO!"

* * *

"**So, what are we going to do about Aizen?**" Shiro inquired as his King entered his inner world.

"Nothing," Ichigo replied. "We stay in my dorm until Aizen's gone."

"**Are you serious?**" Shiro asked incredulously. "**Aizen and Ichimaru are here and unprepared for an attack of any kind, much less from a Vizard that's masquerading as a student!**"

"As much as I really, really hate to admit it, I can't beat Aizen at my current level, much less Aizen and Ichimaru together," Ichigo sighed. "That's mostly why we came here – to prepare for the Winter War so I have a fighting chance against Aizen, if we make it back in time."

"_Tousen is still out there too, and even if we did manage to kill Aizen and Ichimaru, we'd probably get captured before we could get away and executed for murdering the 'two high-level officers'."_

"**But it's not a given that they'll catch us,**" Shiro protested, though he saw the logic in Zangetsu's statement.

"Forget it. Besides, I don't even want to think about the consequences of Aizen learning about my appearance, reiatsu, and abilities thirty years early if we weren't able to kill him," Ichigo shuddered.

"**Fine, fine, forget I said anything.**"

The three parts of Ichigo's soul sat (or in Zangetsu's case, stood) in silence for a while before Shiro cocked his head to the side and wondered, "**Is something breaking outside?**"

Ichigo shook his head. "Probably not, since we're in my dorm, and I doubt anyone would be stupid enough to try and break down the door."

After a few more moments of relative peace, Zangetsu said, "_Ichigo, look._"

Ichigo's gaze traveled in the direction Zangetsu was pointing and gasped. The whirlwind of emotion at the edge of his inner world had turned into a veritable cyclone and was advancing ever so slowly inward.

"_Aizen's appearance probably pushed you over the edge_," Zangetsu commented gently. "_If you don't deal with it soon, it will consume your inner world._"

Ichigo closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself. "Can I confront it Sunday? I have a feeling I'll need to access Shiro's abilities, since his power change is what created that in the first place."

Zangetsu frowned, but could not deny Ichigo's logic. "_Very well. If that is what you wish to do, then I will do all I can to slow its progress. Shiro will have to repress your reiatsu for now._" With that said, Zangetsu shunpoed toward the cyclone. Ichigo noticed with great relief that the cyclone's progress slowed considerably when Zangetsu reached its edges.

Shiro sighed. "**Ah, well, it was going to happen sooner or later.**" After a few seconds of awkward silence, Shiro continued, "**Wanna spar to pass the time?**"

Ichigo shrugged. "Sure."

Neither Shinigami nor hollow were able to do more than grab the hilts of their respective weapons before a shout reverberated through Ichigo's inner world.

"ICHIGO!!"

"What the – how did Renji get into my dorm?!" Ichigo yelped in surprise. "Shiro, I'll have to spar with you later. I need to take care of this."

"**Go ahead. You may wanna hurry; Renji's kicking you.**"

* * *

Ichigo stirred and blinked open his eyes with a grunt. Renji grinned. "Finally-" A fist slammed into his face and sent him tumbling head-over-heels through the door-less doorway and crashing into the hallway wall.

"Dammit, Renji! Why the hell did you break into my room?! And – …WHAT POSSESSED YOU TO BREAK DOWN THE DOOR?!?!"

"Nice to see you too, Ichigo," Renji groaned from his place in the wall.

Ichigo whirled on Izuru. "You too?!"

"I tried to stop him!" Izuru defended.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes dangerously, but was distracted as Renji gave a loud grunt and popped out of the wall and onto the floor, leaving a human-sized indent. "Where the hell did you learn to punch so hard?" Renji complained as he wiped blood from his face.

"Why the hell did you break down my door?"

"Because you weren't answering," Renji glared.

"I'll ask it again. Why. Did. You. Break. Down. My. Door?"

"I think Ichigo-san means to ask why you wanted to see him, Renji-san," Izuru placated, trying to diffuse the situation. Unfortunately, it didn't work, since Renji remembered why he'd paid the impromptu visit to Ichigo's dorm, and he grabbed Ichigo's arm to drag him to hakuda. He didn't tell Ichigo what he was doing, so Ichigo grabbed the front of Renji's uniform with his free arm and slung Renji into the wall again, creating a second human-sized indent. Izuru nervously backed away from Ichigo when Ichigo turned his scorching gaze on Izuru.

Ichigo sighed as he visibly reigned in his temper. "Can you please tell me why you two wanted to see me?"

"Renji-san wanted to take you to hakuda. He thought you'd be here, since this is where he's always found you when you've skipped class."

Ichigo cursed. It would be utterly disastrous if he met with Aizen now. Ichigo struggled to put this into words without utterly confusing/astonishing the two future lieutenants, so he settled with, "I skive off of classes sometimes because of circumstances outside of my control. I'm skipping class today because I don't want to meet Aizen."

"_Captain _Aizen!" Izuru exclaimed, scandalized.

The wall creaked hideously and Renji fell from the wall a second time just as a voice called out, "What's going on here?"

A lanky man with messy black hair and cobalt blue eyes stomped up to the three freshmen. He looked furious as he beheld the destruction wrought in the dorm.

"What happened here?" he asked, dangerously quiet. "You! Blondie!"

Izuru jumped as the man's intense gaze focused on him. "R-Renji-san and I wanted to visit Ichigo-san in his dorm. Ichigo-san was practicing some hakuda moves, and he accidentally punched Renji-san through the door and into the wall," Izuru stuttered. Ichigo was mildly impressed that the future lieutenant could come up with a halfway believable excuse on the spot.

The man raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Twice?..." Izuru nodded enthusiastically, though he was still a bit pale. The man twitched and looked extremely annoyed. "…Fine. Since it was _apparently _an accident-," the man said sarcastically, "-there will be no punishment. All three of you will go to class, now. I'll report this mess and hopefully 'Ichigo' will have a door for his dorm by tonight. Now get going, and don't let this happen again."

Renji staggered to his feet as Izuru said, "Yes, sir!" grabbed Ichigo and Renji, and hauled them to the first floor.

"Do you know how lucky we are?" Izuru hissed at his companions. "That was Raiden Tsukino, 7th year advanced hakuda and zanjutsu teacher. He's the strictest teacher here – we are incredibly lucky to be getting away from that unpunished! Now let's get to class and not cause any more trouble!!" Izuru looked at Renji (who had recovered from being tossed into the wall twice by then) and an unspoken agreement passed between the two. Both grabbed one of Ichigo's arms and dragged him, protesting and struggling, all the way to hakuda.

* * *

Ichigo struggled futilely against the iron grips Renji and Izuru had, but to no avail. Besides, Ichigo didn't really want to seriously wound his friends just to get away from them, and by extension, Aizen. Unfortunately, Ichigo couldn't struggle much more than he was then, otherwise he'd rip his friends' arms from their sockets.

"Relax, okay? I don't know what you have against Captain Aizen, but there are a million other classes the captain would visit instead of ours. I really don't understand why you don't want to see the captain; if you make a good impression on him, you'll get into a squad easier," Izuru sighed.

"I don't even want to run the risk of even running into that bastard on campus, even if he isn't reviewing our class!" Ichigo spat. Izuru and Renji looked at Ichigo as if he had a death wish – he had, after all, called a captain a bastard.

"Look, we're almost at class anyway. Might as well go," Renji reasoned as the hakuda building came into view, wisely choosing to ignore his friend's previous comment.

"And don't say anything else to get us in trouble with the teachers or captain!" Izuru hissed.

Ichigo, however, wasn't listening to his friends. A cold feeling of dread had settled in his stomach and a freezing drop of sweat trickled down his neck. The reiatsu carelessly emitting from the hakuda building was an ominous foreshadowing of the people that were currently inside. Ichigo resolutely dug his heels into the ground and refused to budge another inch.

"Now what?" Renji cried in exasperation.

"What's wrong with him?" Momo inserted, curiously wandering closer but maintaining a safe distance between herself and Ichigo.

"He's been trying to skip class, and we're trying to prevent him from doing so," Izuru informed her. "He also seems to have something against Captain Aizen, which is why he's refusing to budge."

"Against Captain Aizen?" Momo gasped. "But he's the nicest looking captain! And I've heard rumors that his squad's supposed to be the best squad – and he's one of the strongest captains! What's not to like?" The glare Ichigo sent in Momo's direction caused her to shrink back in fear.

Ichigo blocked out Izuru's heated reproach of his behavior in favor of contacting his inner spirits. _Shiro? You there?_ No answer. _Good. Zangetsu? I know you're holding back the hurricane, but is there anything you can do to warp my reiatsu, other than having Shiro suppress it?_

After a few moments, Zangetsu answered, /_I could, but you wouldn't like it._/

_What? _Ichigo asked suspiciously.

/_I could release part of the hurricane and let it cloak your reiatsu emitters. That way, your reiatsu signature will be totally changed, and it won't put pressure on you like if it was completely suppressed._/

"Ichigo?" Ichigo blinked as Renji's voice interrupted his conversation with Zangetsu.

"Are you alright? You kinda zoned out…" Izuru added.

"We'll be late to hakuda if we don't go right now!" Momo fretted.

_I don't have time to argue! Just do it! _Ichigo yelled into his inner world before he was forced to concentrate completely on the outside world.

"C'mon then! Let's get to class!" Izuru exclaimed, tightening his grip on Ichigo's arm and pulling him toward the hakuda building.

Ichigo would have put up a terrific resistance, but he was distracted as his entire body began to tingle and his arms that his friends were gripping felt as if they were encased in mud. Ichigo began to feel slightly dizzy as his vision faded in and out of focus. _Zangetsu? What's happening?_

/_Sorry._/ Ichigo's vision sharpened and the tingling lessened. /_I underestimated the cyclone's power, and it engulfed the buildings that control your pain receptors before I could get it under control. You might feel lightheaded and irritable during class, though…_/

_It's okay, I'm just glad you gave me a warning in time…_

Momo rushed into the hakuda building before the other three freshmen, but froze in the doorway, uttering a small squeak of surprise.

"What is it, Momo?" Izuru sped up, entering the hakuda building and easily being able to look over Momo. Izuru, too, stopped in shock and dropped Ichigo's arm, who had halted right outside the doorway. Renji, curious to discover what had caused such an extreme reaction from his fellow freshmen, pushed Ichigo, Izuru, and Momo farther into the hakuda building. His jaw dropped (and remained that way until Renji realized he was making a fool of himself) as he saw the captain sitting on a chair that was provided for him and chatting pleasantly with Akamizu. Ichigo stubbornly refused to look in Aizen's direction.

"Well, I think those are the last of the students in this class, captain," Akamizu said, eyes sparkling in amusement at his students' reactions to Captain Aizen. "Why don't you four get into your places?" Renji, Izuru, and Momo hurriedly got into line, with Izuru and especially Momo staring unabashed at Aizen. Ichigo followed at a more sedate pace, but still managed to not look in the future traitor's direction once.

Hakuda progressed the same way zanjutsu had, with one v. one matches that the rest of the class watched. Izuru and Momo were paired together and Izuru won, though Ichigo suspected that Izuru dragged the match on longer because of his reluctance to hurt Momo. Renji was paired with a burly, scarred man who obviously knew what he was doing – Renji lost incredibly quickly.

Ichigo was called up for the eighth match and was paired with a small blonde girl. Ichigo was too much on edge and distracted by Aizen's presence to try to downplay his strength. Though his opponent was fast and agile due to her size and her defense was exceptional (for a freshman), her attacks lacked power and her footwork was uncoordinated. One roundhouse kick was all that was needed to disable her.

"Match: Kurosaki!"

Ichigo began to stride back to his place, avoiding looking in the corner where Aizen and Ichimaru were located. Suddenly, a flicker of movement flashed in Ichigo's peripheral vision from the corner in question, and Ichigo whirled around, reflexively tensing in preparation for an attack. Ichimaru had leaned toward Aizen, perhaps to make an observation, but Aizen had caught Ichigo's eyes in brief time the undercover Vizard's gaze had flickered to the traitorous captain. Aizen looked kindhearted but increasingly bewildered, while Ichigo couldn't contain the unbridled hate and fury that he was certain was showing on his face. His gaze flicked to Ichimaru and back to Aizen, and Ichigo tried to decide which was the bigger threat: the traitorous captain, or his foxy, smirking henchman. Zangetsu had been dead right when he said that Ichigo's emotions would be difficult to control. Ichigo wanted nothing more than to hack the captain and lieutenant to pieces.

"Kurosaki! Return to the line!" Akamizu ordered in annoyance. Ichigo ground his jaw and clenched his fists, but managed to reign in his emotions enough to return seemingly docilely to his place. A drop of something trickled down Ichigo's hand and he noted with disinterest that he'd carved bloody furrows in his hands with his fists.

"What did you think you were doing out there? I know you have something against Captain Aizen, but why did you have to show your feelings in the middle of class?!" Izuru hissed. "And don't forget, he has the authority to throw us out of the Academy – show some respect for his rank! And-"

"What happened to your hands?" Renji interrupted. "It didn't look like you'd injured them in the match…"

Ichigo grunted and took to staring at the opposite wall, ignoring his classmates in favor of slowly reining his rampant emotions in. His initial response to Aizen's gaze had been fiery rage and a nearly irresistible desire to tear the traitor's throat out. Zangetsu's warning was greatly appreciated – if Ichigo hadn't known that his self-control would be lacking, then Ichigo probably would have tried to kill the traitor right then and there. Ichigo could only hope that Aizen didn't deem him a threat and try to eliminate him – after all, what freshman at the Academy would, in their right minds, show such hatred toward one of the Soul Society's most respected authority figures?

* * *

Aizen was feeling an emotion he rarely experienced: confusion. Kira and Hinamori had lived up to his expectations, and Aizen was excited that he'd finally found the perfect Shinigami-in-training to further his plans (not that he'd show it outwardly, of course). Abarai would be extremely useful as well, if Aizen could manipulate his mannerisms so that Abarai acted more like Kira and Hinamori and less like a person fresh from the higher districts. But Kurosaki…

When Gin had leaned toward him to make an observation about Kurosaki's performance, Kurosaki had reacted as if were about to be attacked. Aizen had caught the freshman's gaze for the first time during the hakuda class (and it really had been strange that the freshman hadn't looked in Aizen's direction _once_), and had been taken aback by the sheer amount of pure fury that shone in Kurosaki's eyes. Aizen could have also sworn that he felt the pressure at his throat of murderous intent, but sensation had been so fleeting that Aizen couldn't tell if it had been there in the first place or not. After Akamizu had called Kurosaki's name, the freshman showed extreme restrain of emotion and walked back to his place as stiffly and stoically as any Kuchiki. The amount of restraint shown was impressive, too. Aizen could tell that the freshman was holding a vast amount of emotion in check – he hadn't even noticed when his fingernails had bitten into his palms and drawn blood. Back in the line, Kurosaki ignored repeated attempts to get his attention from Kira and Abarai and was currently staring into the distance, obviously to keep himself in check.

What could Aizen have done to the freshman to merit such hatred? And the freshman hadn't just channeled his fury toward Aizen; Ichimaru had been glared at a couple of times, too. Perhaps Kurosaki had a hate for Shinigami and/or authority?... No, he wouldn't have been at the Academy then. At any rate, Kurosaki's animosity destroyed any chances of his usefulness as a pawn to manipulate. If he turned out to be a threat, then he could always be eliminated. If so, then Aizen had to completely memorize every tiny detail of Kurosaki's reiatsu signature so he could be recognized immediately.

It was not an easy task. Aizen had tried before to memorize Kurosaki's reiatsu signature and failed, which Aizen had just brushed off as emotional turmoil clouding Kurosaki's reiatsu. But now that Aizen needed to memorize the signature, it felt harder than ever to read. Kurosaki's signature was weak and fragmented, and every time Aizen thought he had the correct signature, it would change, and Aizen had to painstakingly analyze the new nuances of the new signature. Once Aizen was firmly able to grasp Kurosaki's signature and analyze it, he came to two conclusions: one, that Kurosaki was mentally unbalanced or two, he was deliberately warping his reiatsu to prevent it from being read. Since the instructors would have already sensed if Kurosaki was insane, Aizen had to accept the second choice as true. Concealing reiatsu was taught to fifth and sixth year students, and warping it beyond recognition for any length of time wasn't taught at the Academy at all, due to the high probability of mental injury that was risked during the instruction and execution of the technique.

Aizen twitched ever so slightly. Kurosaki had to be a prodigy of some sort; otherwise his reiatsu would be leaking carelessly and freely from his body.

It was also rather annoying that the warp was so powerful that Aizen couldn't even get a fleeting feeling of Kurosaki's true signature.

And the unnerving loathing Kurosaki had toward Aizen and Gin…

Aizen spent the remainder of the class period creating several hypotheses that would explain Kurosaki's unusual skills and behavior and their consequences on Aizen's plans. Not that Aizen couldn't easily defeat the freshman without even drawing his zanpakuto if Kurosaki needed to be eliminated, but it was better to nip problems like these in the bud. There were several reasons for Kurosaki's hatred, and none of them boded well for Aizen's plans.

If Kurosaki's hatred was directed only at the fifth squad, then whatever degrading rumors Kurosaki spread would plant doubt in at least one person's heart. It was potentially disastrous.

Gin had come from one of the higher districts of Rukongai and had made many enemies with his manipulative tendencies and underhanded maneuvers. Perhaps Kurosaki was one of those enemies, and his hate would automatically extend to the commanding officer.

Kurosaki could have been mistreated in youth and gained an intense hate of authority, which would include Aizen and Gin. If that was the case, then Kurosaki probably wanted more power to change the Soul Society's ruling system (which Aizen believed was irreversibly corrupt). This wouldn't be a problem, except that whatever plans Kurosaki had could interfere with Aizen's plans.

The final reason was by far the most catastrophic, if most unlikely. If Kurosaki had been in contact with Urahara, and Aizen's plans were exposed, the resulting fallout of such an accusation was grounds for execution if real evidence to support Kurosaki's claims was found– not that Aizen couldn't escape, but the search for the Hougyoku could only be conducted in the Soul Society, as only the Soul Society had any record of its existence, and Aizen knew that a search in the real world for Urahara would come up with no results.

Kurosaki was far too dangerous to be left alive. As Aizen walked through the halls of the Academy to the advanced 7th year kido class, he began planning ways to get rid of Kurosaki. After all, it was a relatively easy matter to stage a "tragic" death during one of the exercises in the world of the living. And if it was executed correctly, it would also gain Kira's, Hinamori's, and Abarai's unwavering trust.

"When you've got that grin on yer face, it means yer planning somethin', right?" Gin inquired softly, his smirk looking a bit more feral than usual.

"I'll tell you later. After all, we wouldn't want the students to hear something they shouldn't, would we?"

* * *

This chapter was incredibly hard to get through. It felt like I was writing a filler instead of an important chapter… Blegh.

Ichigo's spent a month at the Academy and learned just how little he really knows about the Shinigami world – and he's also gained a bit of maturity from having to hide EVERYTHING from everyone.

Aizen's learned to be overly cautious and to leave no stone unturned, so he's prepared for any and all eventualities. I hope you didn't think Aizen was OOC… He's so hard to write correctly…

GACK!! I meant to have this chapter posted a few days ago, but fanfiction has been screwing up and I haven't been able to upload any documents!! I've been forced to cut and paste the chapter into a document that already existed and edit it from there!! Please forgive me!!! *bows*

-HM


	22. MiX tHe BlAcK aNd WhItE

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Bleach.

Ichigo's thoughts: _Hi_

Shiro: **Hi**

Zangetsu: /_Hi_/

* * *

Chapter 22 – MiX tHe BlAcK aNd WhItE

The group of Shinigami sent to the world of the living was crowded around a table in Urahara's home behind the Shoten. Silence prevailed throughout the room – the Shinigami were dumbfounded. Urahara had just explained what had happened to their best hope of defeating Aizen. Aforementioned shopkeeper waved his trademark fan about, carefully watching the Shinigami's reactions. So far, all of them bore the deer-in-headlights look, but it wouldn't be long before one of them broke the stillness.

There was a reaction. The child prodigy twitched. Urahara's fan waved about some more. The snowy-haired captain twitched again. The well-endowed female lieutenant edged away from the captain, apparently wanting to not get caught in whatever explosion would occur when the captain sna-

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, LEAVING SOMETHING OUT LIKE THAT?!?!?"

* * *

After Rangiku successfully pacified her captain (as she had to deal with his volatile temper daily when she neglected her paperwork), Toshiro groaned in exasperation and horror. "We've got a MIA Substitute Shinigami who's stuck sometime in the past – who just happens to be our best offense against Aizen – with a huge war approaching, and a captain-turned-shopkeeper who claims that he can retrieve said Shinigami just before or during the projected beginning of the war."

A few seconds passed, and the two members from the 11th squad summed up the situation in two true but vastly different comments.

"What an ugly situation."

"We're screwed."

"Is there anything we can do to speed this up?" Toshiro sighed, massaging his temples.

"Lure more hollows here and kill them. Having more spiritual particles in the atmosphere will increase the chances that we'll retrieve Kurosaki in one piece," Urahara informed them.

"'In one piece'?" Toshiro repeated dangerously.

"Ah, there's always a lot of risk in time travel…"

Before the young captain could lose his temper again, Rangiku cut in, "The Soul Society should know about this."

Toshiro winced, his anger gone. He wasn't looking forward to that conversation. "I'll go do it now. The sooner the Soul Society knows about this, the better," he reasoned. The captain stood, exited the Shoten, and dialed the number to Soul Society.

* * *

"Alright, Jyuushiro-san. You're free to go," Unohana smiled.

"Thank you, Retsu-san." Ukitake exited the 4th squad's barracks, walking leisurely back to the 13th squad. The coughing fits he'd been having were, thankfully, decreasing in number and intensity – though that was because of the medicine Unohana prescribed him to suppress the fits (though they'd be twice as worse for a time afterwards). It would be absolutely disastrous if he suddenly had an attack in the middle of a battle with a high-level Espada.

As Ukitake passed the 12th squad's barracks, a voice called out, "Captain Ukitake!" One of the 12th squad's members (_Rin?_) ran up to the sickly captain, panting slightly. "We have a problem! You're needed in the communications center immediately!" Ukitake trotted after Rin, a feeling of dread settling in his stomach. When Ukitake entered the communications center, another 12th squad member handed him a pair of headphones. "Captain Hitsugaya is on the line."

Ukitake accepted the headphones. "Captain Hitsugaya?"

"We've got a problem," Toshiro said, followed by a rush of static that Ukitake interpreted as a sigh. "We know what happened to Substitute Shinigami Kurosaki Ichigo."

Ukitake gripped his haori tightly. "And?"

"Urahara left one of his inventions, a time travel machine out – he said something about killing Aizen before this whole mess ever happened – but Ichigo Kurosaki is currently thirty years in the past, and Urahara may or may not be able to retrieve him before the Winter War begins."

"You're joking," Ukitake said weakly.

"Unfortunately, no. Orders?"

Ukitake could think of several words that aptly described the situation the Shinigami were now in, and none of them were very pretty.

"Captain Ukitake?"

Ukitake returned to the conversation and replied, "Make contact with Kurosaki's teacher or teachers for the past month. They may be willing to help us fight Aizen and they may have remained unexposed to Kyoka Suigetsu. Do you know where you can find these people?"

"Personally, I do not know where Kurosaki has been training, but I do know that the human Orihime Inoue and Rukia Kuchiki are privy to the location of Ichigo's training place."

"Very well. Extract the information from them, and allow me or Captain Kyoraku to contact them."

"Hai. I'll carry out your orders immediately. Has Captain-Commander Yamamoto been told of the situation?"

"He will need to be told now. We can't keep Kurosaki's extended absence from him."

There was a beep in the background and Toshiro said, "Forgive me, Captain Ukitake. There's a hollow that I must eradicate." A click informed Ukitake that the young captain had hung up.

* * *

Rukia Kuchiki and Orihime Inoue prepared to jump through Urahara's Senkaimon when a feminine voice called, "Wait!!" Rangiku shunpoed in front of the two before they had a chance to enter the gate. "The captain requests your presence immediately."

Rukia and Orihime looked concerned by the normally carefree lieutenant's grave tone, and they followed her immediately after apologizing to Urahara about wasting the Senkaimon he'd created. He'd waved it off, and the two followed Rangiku to the park where the two Arrancar, Ulquiorra and Yammy, had first showed up. The park was deserted, as the general public still did not know what had caused the numerous losses of life at the park, and coupled with the ominous reiatsu still lingering, the place was avoided like the plague.

"What is it?" Orihime asked Toshiro worriedly. "Did something happen?"

"I'm under orders to contact Kurosaki's teachers – we need all the allies we can get for the Winter War. Will you take us to them?" Toshiro requested.

Rukia replied, "There's… a barrier, around their home. They don't want to be found."

Toshiro persisted. "At the very least, they deserve to know what happened to their student. We can provide information about the enemy that they don't have as well. At least think about it."

Orihime looked reluctant. "Alright."

Toshiro didn't looked particularly pleased, but he ordered, "Stay in the world of the living for the time being. I'm sure Urahara will need your help to retrieve Kurosaki. Why were you heading to the Soul Society, anyway?"

"Orihime-san and I were going to use the training grounds there," Rukia said.

"If you need to train, use Urahara's basement. I'm sure he has room to spare, even with Lieutenant Abarai and Sado-san training. Perhaps they can help with your combat skills. I'm sure they wouldn't mind. But think about our request. Remember, we're preparing for a war. Don't let your personal feelings get in the way."

Orihime looked uncomfortable. "Alright, Captain Hitsugaya."

"Let's go back to the Shoten, Orihime," Rukia coaxed gently, aware of the inner turmoil her friend was going through. Rukia guided Orihime by the shoulder out of the clearing.

After the two were out of earshot, Rangiku addressed her captain, "I'm really not happy that you had to make Orihime upset, but I'm more surprised that you didn't grill the two of them more for the location of Ichigo's training grounds. It's not really your style."

The white-haired captain's expression darkened. "This is war, Matsumoto. We can't afford to tiptoe around the humans and tailor-fit our plans so that their feelings won't get hurt. I just hope they'll forgive me later…"

Rangiku's eyes widened as she caught the hidden meaning in her captain's words. "You're planning on following them, aren't you?"

Toshiro nodded. "I'll watch Inoue-san, you watch Kuchiki-san. If Kuchiki-san goes, contact me with your Soul Pager."

Rangiku looked disturbed. "Are you even sure they'll go?"

"At least Inoue-san probably will. She's very sensitive; she'll go to Kurosaki's teachers," Toshiro said confidently.

Rangiku blanched. "But captain! That's-"

"Matsumoto!" Rangiku fell silent. "We can't let Aizen win. Don't shirk from your task – view it from an order from a superior and just do it!" Toshiro shunpoed out of the clearing, leaving his stunned lieutenant behind.

Rangiku looked distressed. _Captain… Don't do something you'll regret, like stooping to Aizen's level…_

_Aizen_, Toshiro thought furiously as he tracked Orihime's reiatsu, _you'll pay for what you've done… especially for hurting Momo._

* * *

Urahara was willing to let Orihime and Rukia use a part of his training room. Chad and Renji moved to another part of the training grounds to let the girls train, and they offered to spar with the girls when they felt ready. Rukia began to teach Orihime how to defend herself, but Orihime's mind was elsewhere. As far as Orihime knew, the Vizards didn't know what had happened to Ichigo. It really wasn't fair to keep them out of the loop, and Orihime knew that they had to be quite worried – no matter what their rough mannerisms were, they had agreed to train Ichigo, so they had to care for him on some level.

"Orihime! You can't space out like that during a battle! The enemy will take advantage of your distraction!" Rukia called, Sode no Shirayuki resting lightly in her hands.

"I'm sorry, Rukia-san. I just can't concentrate right now… Can we continue tomorrow?" Orihime asked.

Rukia looked disinclined to let Orihime go, but she didn't object anyway. "Fine. I'll join Renji and Chad for a three-way free-for-all."

Orihime smiled and bowed. "Thank you, Rukia-san." Orihime rushed out of the Shoten, unaware of the two figures tracking her movements.

* * *

"Aizen-sama?"

"Yes, Szayel?"

"I have a report about the movements of the enemy in Karakura Town."

"Very good. And?"

"The whereabouts of Substitute Shinigami Ichigo Kurosaki are still unknown, and our agents have been unable to hear anything of importance from his friends. Also, 6th squad lieutenant Renji Abarai and human Sado Yasutora, or "Chad", are training in the Urahara Shoten. 13th squad member Rukia Kuchiki and human Orihime Inoue are still in the world of the living, since their plans to travel to the Soul Society have been delayed. Currently, the human Orihime Inoue is headed towards the Vizard's hideout. She is alone."

"Are all of the Shinigami in Karakura accounted for?"

"All except one, 10th squad captain Toshiro Hitsugaya. One Senkaimon was opened in the Urahara Shoten, so it is very likely that he returned to the Soul Society."

It was an ideal opportunity. Inoue was unguarded and could be snatched away before the Shinigami could realize what was happening. "Send for Ulquiorra, Luppi, Wonderweis, Yammy, and Grimmjow. I have a mission for them."

* * *

Two tears in the sky appeared over Karakura Town. Within one, four figures of various statures emerged; within the other, a single silhouette more menacing than the other four appeared.

The hair on the back of Orihime's neck rose and she shivered as the air temperature seemed to drop ten degrees. _Arrancar_, something in the back of her mind whispered. Orihime broke into a full-out run. She knew that she'd be safe with the Vizards, even if they wouldn't particularly enjoy the impromptu vis-

_Flash_. A black-haired, green-eyed figure shunpoed in front of her. Orihime gasped and stumbled back a couple of steps, since she immediately recognized Ulquiorra, one of the Arrancar at the park… What did he want with her? Or did he just want to kill her?

Before the Arrancar could begin to speak, another blur attacked him. As sparks flew from the clashing metal and hierro, Orihime recognized the childlike form of Toshiro Hitsugaya.

* * *

Toshiro's eyes widened as he felt the two Garganta open. One was near the Shoten, and the other was within ten meters of Orihime's location.

An Arrancar appeared in front of the well-endowed human girl, and Toshiro canceled the kido that completely hid his reiatsu before bringing Hyourinmaru crashing down on the Arrancar's hierro-enforced arm. While Toshiro was annoyed that Hyourinmaru was unable to puncture the hierro, at least the Arrancar had been completely caught off guard by the attack.

* * *

Orihime slightly panicked as Shinigami and Arrancar began to exchange blows. She knew that Toshiro had a seal on, so he couldn't use most of his power. Already his shikai was barely holding Ulquiorra at bay. She would have tried to help, had she actually been able to follow the movements of the two.

Orihime sent out a wave of reiatsu and activated the Santen Kesshun, hoping that Toshiro wouldn't get injured or killed protecting her.

* * *

Hachi's head snapped up as he felt Orihime's wave of reiatsu and the battling Shinigami and Arrancar reiatsu. Apparently the other Vizards felt it too, since they looked up from various books and musical instruments with varying degrees of displeasure and worry on their faces.

"Shinigami business. Leave them alone," Hiyori dismissed.

"But what about Orihime-san? She's in the middle of that!" Rosé objected. Shinji and Love looked approving of Rosé's concern.

"Do you honestly want to get involved with the Shinigami again?" Hiyori spat. "At least Ichigo was only a substitute and a Vizard, and the sole Shinigami present was badly injured, but-"

"Hiyori!" Shinji bellowed. "Orihime-chan may be a human, but she has powers like Hachi's. Doesn't that mean that she's at least partially one of us? Doesn't that mean she deserves to be saved?"

"Please, Hiyori," Hachi interjected quietly.

Hiyori looked furious. "Fine. But Hachi stays here; I refuse to let the location of our hideout to be divulged!"

"I'll go; I've already confronted the enemy once, so they know of my involvement," Shinji decided. "I'll also need someone to get Orihime-chan while I distract the Arrancar…"

"I'll come with you," Rosé volunteered.

"And just leave the Shinigami to his fate. **Don't bring him here**," Hiyori stressed.

Shinji and Rosé shunpoed out of the hideout, pushing themselves as fast as they could. Orihime's protector was rapidly weakening, and both knew that Orihime would not last more than five seconds against an Arrancar of that caliber.

* * *

Toshiro panted, blood spurting from numerous shallow wounds. The Arrancar in front of him wasn't even slightly winded and still looked as immaculate as he had been when the horribly one-sided battle had commenced. Toshiro, unfortunately, still hadn't received permission to remove his limiters, and he knew he would die if he couldn't release them – the Arrancar hadn't even needed to release his zanpakuto to combat Toshiro's bankai.

Suddenly, red filled Toshiro's vision and his chest exploded in pain. Toshiro's gaze traveled slowly downward. Why was there a hand sticking out of his sternum?

As Toshiro's world faded from view, two blurry figures assaulted the Arrancar.

* * *

I LIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! School's been a mess; I apologize for the late update.

I know a lot of you were expecting more of Ichigo's antics, but I need to put these interludes of canon-period material in sometimes to tie up all the loose ends in the story.

I apologize if Orihime seems a bit out of character, but she's not a ditz at all when she's worried about her friends. Her eccentric personality will come back full-force a bit later.

-HM


	23. Contact

**Disclaimer: **Look elsewhere to steal Bleach. I don't own it.

Ichigo's thoughts: _Hi_

Shiro: **Hi**

Zangetsu: /_Hi_/

* * *

Chapter 23 – Contact

Sakanade crashed into the Arrancar's zanpakuto while Kinshara collided with a hierro-enforced hand. Out of the corner of Shinji's eye, the small Shinigami fell to the earth, blood gushing from a critical injury.

Shinji nodded to Rosé, who shunpoed to Orihime. Shinji then focused his attention on the Arrancar before him, who was studying Shinji with indifference.

"Who are you?" the Arrancar asked in a monotone.

"No one of importance. Just tell your master that his old captain says hello." The Arrancar's eyes widened. "Good luck living long enough to tell him, though." Shinji pulled on his mask and the Arrancar's eyes shot even wider than they already were.

* * *

The masked one's zanpakuto crashed into Ulquiorra's with amazing force, pushing him back a few yards. The reiatsu that flowed around Ulquiorra felt exactly like an Arrancar's: a perfect blend of hollow and Shinigami.

A red ball suddenly formed in front of the masked one's extended fist. The masked one could use Cero!

The red beam of destruction sped toward Ulquiorra. He sheathed his zanpakuto and halted the Cero's advance with a single outstretched hand. Ulquiorra was shocked when the Cero still pressed forward, and he slammed his other hand into the crimson energy. Ulquiorra's eyes narrowed in concentration as his overpowered the Cero's reiatsu and deflected the crimson beam into a nearby building. Only after the smoke cleared did Ulquiorra realize that the human girl he was supposed to abduct and her three protectors had vanished, and their reiatsu was untraceable.

Aizen-sama would not be happy.

* * *

Rosé shunpoed to Orihime while Shinji ran interference with the Arrancar, and he inwardly groaned when he saw her healing the downed Shinigami. She wouldn't heal anyone but a friend, and she wasn't the type to leave behind a comrade, no matter the situation. She also looked very worried; the Shinigami's injury had to have been really bad.

"Please, Rosé-san, please rescue Hitsugaya-san," she pleaded, confirming Rosé's suspicions.

Rosé glanced up at the battle between Shinji and the Arrancar and saw that Shinji was firing a Cero – probably to keep the Arrancar occupied so that they could make their getaway. Rosé ordered Orihime to climb on his back, waving off her thank-yous and apologies and focusing on the wounded Shinigami. The Shinigami was in danger of dying, due to the hideous hole in his chest, but Rosé figured that the Shinigami could probably withstand transport. After determining that the Shinigami could be moved and grabbing the Shinigami bridal style, Rosé began to shunpo back to the warehouse, aware of Shinji on his heels. Rosé glanced down at the Shinigami he wasn't supposed to save.

Hiyori would not be happy.

* * *

Urahara stared as smoke drifted from the large crater in front of his partially demolished store. The damages from the fight with the Arrancar were going to cost a fortune…

A Garganta had opened up right above the Shoten and four Arrancar had begun attacking the store. Rangiku, Ikkaku, and Yumichika had immediately rushed out and had begun defending the store, while Urahara had to prevent the exhausted Renji and Chad from doing the same. After it became clear that the Shinigami were vastly outmatched, Yoruichi, Urahara, Tessai, Jinta, and Ururu joined the fray. To Urahara's annoyance, Renji and Chad joined in too, using long-range attacks that kept the Arrancar on their toes. After one of the Arrancar, Luppi, had almost gotten killed with Yoruichi's shunko, the Arrancar retreated to Hueco Mundo. No one had been fatally wounded, and the worst damage had been done to the surrounding area. The most destruction had been dealt by a blue-haired Arrancar with a missing arm, since he had been infuriated when he discovered that Ichigo was not available "for a sound thrashing".

"Where's Captain Hitsugaya?!" Rangiku gasped. "I can't feel his reiatsu!" She looked utterly panicked, but she was in no condition to search for her captain – small rivulets of blood still dripped down her face, the pupils of her eyes were dilated (she had a concussion or worse, since Luppi's blow to her head sent her face first into two feet of concrete), and one of her legs was bent at an unnatural angle.

"I'll go find him. You're in no condition to go looking for him," Yoruichi ordered. Rangiku's shoulders slumped.

"Yoruichi, look for Orihime-san, as well. I have some theories about the reasons behind this attack, and I dearly hope that they are wrong," Urahara added darkly.

Yoruichi gave a single sharp nod and blurred from view. Urahara rubbed his temples. He'd taken Orihime off of the front lines to prevent her unique powers from attracting Aizen's attention, but if this attack had indeed been a diversion to allow another Arrancar to capture Orihime, then it had been a grave mistake on Urahara's part to forbid Orihime from being on the front lines – the Shinigami there would have been able to effectively protect her.

Urahara trudged back into the remains of his store and sat down on a relatively flat piece of rubble, sighing. At the very least, his underground training room was untouched… which was a very good thing, considering that the only means of retrieving Kurosaki from the past were stored within.

* * *

Shinji, Rosé, and Orihime entered the warehouse warily (Toshiro was still held in Rosé's arms) and one of Hachi's multilayered barriers snapped up behind them, effectively cloaking their location from wandering Arrancar.

"Did you get her?" Love asked, approaching the three. Eyeing Rosé's cargo, he added, "And an injured guest. Hiyori won't take this too well, you know."

"I wasn't about to leave him behind!" Orihime defended.

Love held his hands up in a placating gesture. "Just as long as you're aware of the consequences…"

The group ventured further into the shadowy hideout. Rosé carefully set Toshiro on the ground just as an incensed female voice screeched, "BAKAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" Something slammed Shinji into the opposite wall of the warehouse while introducing Rosé to the pain of the sandal-slap. Orihime paled and erected the Santen Kesshun in front of herself and Toshiro, as well as enveloping Toshiro in the Soten Kisshun. Just in time, too; a flying sandal impacted with the glowing yellow shield with incredible force before its owner retrieved it and used it to knock Shinji senseless.

"AND YOU!" the she-demon whirled on Orihime. Before the blonde girl could move, however, five iron pillars crashed down on her, effectively pinning her. "HACHI!! LET ME UP!!!!"

"Not until you've regained your senses," the pink-haired giant responded calmly.

The rest of the Vizards (sans the still unconscious Shinji and the incensed Hiyori) huddled behind Orihime's glowing shield in front of the golden blob that had enveloped the 10th squad captain. They tuned out Hiyori's furious screaming and began to debate about what the Shinigami's fate would be.

"So… What do we do with him?" Love began.

"After Orihime's done fixing him, we could take him back to Urahara's," Lisa suggested.

Hachi vetoed, "There are more Shinigami there that we won't want to get tangled with."

"Then we could just dump him in any random part of the city," Kensei proposed.

"The Arrancar attacked when they thought that Orihime-chan was defenseless. What's to say that they won't do it again?" Rosé objected.

Orihime took no notice of the remainder of the argument in favor of concentrating on healing Toshiro's wound. The damage done to his chest was severe. A dense reiatsu had enshrouded the wound, and if Orihime couldn't get rid of it, then there was a good chance that Toshiro could die… Orihime bit her lip. If it hadn't been for her, Toshiro wouldn't have been injured…

Shun'ou and Ayame pulsed gently, informing Orihime that the immense reiatsu saturating the injury had finally been removed. Orihime breathed a soft sigh of relief. Now that horrid hole in Toshiro's chest could begin to close… Soon after, a low groan unheard by everyone but Orihime signified that the captain had returned to consciousness.

* * *

Toshiro groaned. His chest ached abominably, though the pain was gradually dwindling with each passing moment. A soft yellow glow penetrated his eyelids, and loud arguing voices stabbed at his eardrums. As the pain in his chest lessened, Toshiro was able to concentrate clearly and began to piece together his hazy, fragmented memories. Orihime had been confronted with that Arrancar. Toshiro had rushed to her defense. The Arrancar had been extremely strong and had inflicted heavy damage upon Toshiro, even with his bankai. And then… hadn't Toshiro been stabbed in the chest? It would explain why his chest hurt so much... Toshiro vaguely remembered two figures assaulting the Arrancar before his memory went blank. Hopefully he was back at the Urahara Shoten, and the yellow glow was Orihime's Soten Kisshun. But what had happened to the Arrancar?

Toshiro's eyes snapped open, eliciting several startled oaths. Toshiro ignored them and focused on clearing his vision; his surroundings were nothing but a yellow blur. After a couple of blinks, Toshiro could make out a well-endowed female hovering at his side and several figures farther off. A couple more blinks brought the girl into sharp focus. It was Orihime. She had escaped the Arrancar unscathed. But why was she holding Hyourinmaru?

Toshiro sat up, ignoring the protests from his chest. "What happened? Where am I?"

"You were stabbed through the chest by an Arrancar. Some friends rescued us and took us to their home," Orihime explained. "I'm so sorry about your injury. If I hadn't have been there, you wouldn't have been-"

"Stop. My injuries weren't your fault." Toshiro squinted past the yellow glow of the Soten Kisshun and was barely able to make out the similar light of the Santen Kesshun. "Why is your shield activated? I thought that we were with allies."

"We are, but-"

"DAMMIT, WHY DID YOU LET HIM WAKE UP?!?"

"That's why," Orihime sighed.

"Be glad that Hiyori is pinned under bakudo 75, otherwise you would be dead by now. She really didn't want you to be here," a black-haired girl wearing a sailor fuku commented.

Toshiro turned to Orihime for confirmation. "Hiyori?"

"One of the people that live here. She doesn't like Shinigami." Toshiro raised an eyebrow at the understatement.

"SHUT UP, HIYORI!!"

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO, DICKHEAD!!!"

"I guess Shinji returned to the land of the living," the same girl remarked.

"Sorry for the rude first impression. We're not all as violent as Hiyori," a man with long, wavy, blond hair belatedly apologized.

"DON'T TALK TO HIM!! KNOCK HIM OUT AGAIN!!!"

The golden hemisphere surrounding Toshiro abruptly subsided. "You're completely healed now," Orihime smiled with some relief, ignoring the screaming from beyond the Santen Kesshun.

There was a sudden _thud_ and a male voice called, "It's safe now, Orihime-chan!" The triangle-shaped shield shattered, revealing a rather annoyed blonde, many-toothed man and an unconscious, dirty-blonde child pinned under bakudo 75.

"Che." The man sauntered up to Toshiro. "A captain, huh?"

Toshiro stiffened as his rank was correctly identified. This group either had some sort of interest in the Gotei 13 or had once been involved with/a part of the Gotei 13. Neither boded too well for Toshiro. The last groups that had been interested in the Soul Society had tried to destroy it and rogue Shinigami were known to be vicious and violent toward enlisted Shinigami.

"Who are you?" the man asked, though Toshiro couldn't tell if the question was asked out of simple curiosity or not.

"Toshiro Hitsugaya, 10th squad captain of the Gotei 13," Toshiro replied warily.

The man peered at Toshiro. "A bit young to be a captain, aren't you?..."

Toshiro flushed in embarrassment and annoyance. "Sh-shut up! I have the qualifications to be a captain!"

The man held his hands up in a peace gesture. "Calm down. I'm just makin' a statement…"

"He acts a lot like Berry-tan, doesn't he?" a green-haired girl noted absentmindedly.

Toshiro raised an eyebrow. "Berry-tan?..."

"Oh, right! We haven't introduced ourselves, have we?" the wavy-haired blonde said, oblivious to the multiple glares from his other comrades.

"It's only polite," a man with a star-shaped afro shrugged, earning several glares of his own. "Love Aikawa. Nice to meet you."

"Rosé Otoribashi."

After a few seconds of silence, the sailor fuku girl sighed and introduced herself and the rest of her comrades. "I'm Lisa Yadomaru. The crabby silver-haired guy is Kensei Muguruma, the hyper green-haired girl is Mashiro Kuno, the pink-haired giant is Hachi Ushoda, the one who was screaming at you earlier is Hiyori Sarugaki, and the blonde idiot over there is Shinji Hirako." Hirako looked rather annoyed and glared at Yadomaru, but she was apparently oblivious to Hirako's irritation. There were a few more seconds of awkward silence filled with anxious fidgeting and darting eyes, when-

"DAMMIT, SHINJI!! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!! AND THAT STUPID SHINIGAMI, TOO!!!" Sarugaki seemed to be in an apoplectic rage. She took advantage of Ushoda's surprise from her sudden awakening and broke out of the bakudo that was holding her down. She activated some sort of mechanism that lifted up a section of the floor before dashing down the now-exposed stairs.

"Wait – her zanpakuto's down there isn't it?" Hirako groaned before tearing after Sarugaki. Toshiro was mildly surprised – only Shinigami or former Shinigami used zanpakuto, so this group had probably been a part of the Gotei 13. Perhaps some of the senior captains knew them.

Toshiro followed the rest of the former Shinigami as they vanished down the staircase. He was dumbfounded when he reached the bottom of the staircase. These people had an underground training room like Urahara?!

A furious scream distracted Toshiro from his survey of the room, directing his attention on a livid Sarugaki. Toshiro began to panic a bit when he reached for his zanpakuto and only grabbed empty air. Belatedly, Toshiro remembered that Orihime had been holding Hyourinmaru when she'd been healing him, and she probably still had his zanpakuto. Had years of experience taught him nothing? He should have never left his zanpakuto out of reach in a place filled with potential enemies! At least Hirako had the sense to block the blow…

* * *

Lisa watched with mild horror as Hiyori gave a feral roar and launched herself at the unarmed captain (who really should have known better than to simply leave his zanpakuto with Orihime) and was thankfully blocked by Shinji. The two catapulted through the air and crashed through one of the protruding rock spires. Lisa glanced behind her when she heard Mashiro's gasp and Kensei's annoyed grunt and saw that, unsurprisingly, Mashiro was clinging to Kensei and the silver-haired man was trying to shake her off. Nothing unusual. Lisa turned back to Hiyori and Shinji and winced as a particularly strong blow sent Shinji into one of the boulders littering the landscape. Hiyori hadn't been this mad in a long time. It was probably best to let Hiyori's temper burn out on its own. She'd eventually come to her senses. Hopefully.

* * *

After retrieving Hyourinmaru from Orihime, a small flicker of lingering reiatsu caught Toshiro's attention. It was barely noticeable, but Toshiro could have sworn that it felt like Ichigo's. Perhaps…

What was the name of the green-haired girl again? "Ah… Mashiro Kuna?"

The bubbly girl turned toward Toshiro and bent to his eye-level. "Yes, Whitey-chan?"

Toshiro bit the inside of his cheek to prevent himself from losing his temper and exploding at Kuna. It wouldn't help him at all to snap at her. He settled with, "Does the name Ichigo Kurosaki mean anything to you?"

Kuna brightened. "You know Berry-tan?" A small part of Toshiro snickered at the name Kuna had given Ichigo, but he was alarmed when she grabbed the rough, gray-haired man's arm (_Muguruma?_). This apparently happened often, because he immediately started protesting and trying to shake her off. Before he could do anything more than shake his arm back and forth a couple of times, Kuna innocently exclaimed, "Hey, Kensei, Whitey-chan knows Berry-tan!"

Muguruma stopped struggling and eyed Toshiro coolly. Toshiro kept his expression neutral as he asked, "Are you the ones who have been training Ichigo for the past month?"

Muguruma's expression became frosty. "And if we have?"

A particularly loud crash reverberated throughout the room and Hirako emerged from a cloud of dust. Sarugaki was slung over his shoulder, unconscious. "What now?" he complained, noticing the tension between Toshiro and Muguruma.

"Why are you so interested with our involvement with Ichigo?" Muguruma asked Toshiro sharply.

"The Soul Society has ordered me to contact Ichigo's teachers and request for help for the upcoming war," Toshiro said stiffly.

Hirako's gaze became deadly serious, but Toshiro could also see a well-hidden glint of sadness in his eyes. "The Soul Society won't want anything to do with us."

"You don't know that," Toshiro shot back.

"Yes, I do. Trust me, I do."

"You'll at least need to tell the Soul Society 'no' directly."

Hirako gave a bitter bark of laughter. "You're stubborn, I'll give you that. Tell you what, put me through to Soul Society." There were several protests, which were silenced with, "They'll need to know of our involvement, anyway."

Toshiro extracted his Soul Pager from his shihakusho; most of the people in the training ground looked at the phone as if it would suddenly come to life and attack them. He dialed the number to Soul Society, and after a single ring, Toshiro was answered by one of the 12th squad members. He requested for either Shunsui Kyoraku or Jushiro Ukitake. Hirako looked alarmed by the names, but didn't have time to object. Apparently Ukitake had been hanging around the 12th squad a lot in the past few days and had been available immediately.

"Are they willing to talk, Captain Hitsugaya?"

"Yes. I'll let you speak their apparent leader now." Toshiro held the phone out and Hirako snatched it up.

* * *

The young captain held the Soul Pager out, unsure of whom the 'apparent leader' was. Shinji grabbed it before one of the less polite Vizards could get their hands on it.

"Hello?" So it was Jushiro on the phone. At least it wasn't Yamamoto; he wouldn't have listened to a word Shinji would have said.

"Yo. It's been a while, Jushiro-san."

Shinji could swear he heard Jushiro's jaw hit the floor. "SHINJI HIRAKO?!"

* * *

I know that a lot of you have asked why there seems to be a lack of differences in the canon time period, other than Ichigo's absence. That will be explained by the end of the fic, I guarantee it. Stop asking me that question, because I'm not answering it now. I've had to have had at least twenty people ask variations of that question, maybe more.

We'll get back to Ichigo in the next chapter, okay? … … That's rather evil of me, promising more Ichigo when I've left you guys with a really bad cliffhanger, isn't it?

I really didn't like how this chapter turned out. It's quite choppy, but that's because so much is happening in such a short amount of time. I still don't like writing choppily, though…

Yay!! A quick update!! And on midterm week, too. Odd…

I finally got through my writing notebook. It was one of those thick ones with high-quality paper from B&N. It was black and had the word 'write' all over it. Now I get to start a new notebook. It's one from my friend. I CAN'T BELIEVE I FINISHED MY NOTEBOOK!!

Don't forget to push the little button below!

-HM


	24. Inner Change

_**I'm going to assume that all of you know that I do not own Bleach, and that all of you know what the format of Ichigo's thoughts, Shiro's speech, and Zangetsu's speech is. As such, I will not bore you anymore with currently useless disclaimers and format examples.**_

Ichi's current situation: Ichigo's at the Academy. Aizen's currently touring, and Ichigo's first class with Aizen just ended. Aizen's viewing advanced 7th year kido next, while Ichigo has reiatsu control. He's having trouble keeping his emotions in check because of the cyclone of negative emotion threatening to consume his inner world.

* * *

* * *

Chapter 24 – Inner Change

Ichigo was incredibly jumpy and irritable during his reiatsu control class. Zangetsu had been unable to push the hurricane back to its former size, so until the end of class Ichigo was stuck with an acerbic temper and a gradually worsening tingling throughout his body. During the practical portions of the class, Ichigo's hands wouldn't stop twitching. Luckily, at the end of the period, Kimoto-sensei was obsevant enough to notice Ichigo's discomfort and pale, clammy skin; she excused him for the rest of the day to get some rest. After sending messages via hell butterflies to Matsumura-sensei (excusing Ichigo from his class) and to the infirmary (to inform them of Ichigo's condition), Kimoto ordered Ichigo to go to the infirmary and to rest for the remainder of the day. Ichigo thanked her and tried to smile, but it came out as a sour grimace instead. And instead of heading for the infirmary, Ichigo unsteadily shunpoed straight to the clearing in the woods. Shiro materialized the instant Ichigo was within the Sekki-Sekki boundary, looking shaky.

"**Get that hurricane out of your inner world!**" he spat, shaking little bits of debris from himself and the wrapping of the white Zangetsu. Ichigo was sure that the debris had come from the demolished buildings in his inner world.

"What happened?"

"**I got too close to that behemoth, that's what**," Shiro grumbled.

/_Can you two please get on with it?_/ Zangetsu sounded strained.

Ichigo took a deep breath. "Right," he said aloud. He materialized the foreign mask and held it upside-down in his hands. He fingered it gingerly, as if it would shatter if he gripped it too hard.

_So how do we do this? _Ichigo asked Zangetsu.

/_Just get rid of your negative emotions and fright – accept that your power's changed. Then spar to get rid of the excess tension, I guess._/ Zangetsu grunted.

Ichigo flipped the mask over. The unfamiliar black stripes stared up at him, as before. Ichigo closed his eyes to help concentrate. He really hated soul-searching, but he didn't have a choice.

Why did the mask impact Ichigo so negatively?

Shiro didn't know how much his power had changed. That uncertainty was quite alarming, but through experiance and pushing the limits of his abilities, that problem could be taken care of. Getting used to the mask's extra weight would take some time, but it wasn't that big of an issue at all. So if Ichigo wasn't all _that_ bothered by the mask's changes, why was he reacting so violently?

A small tendril of anxiety reached Ichigo through the mental link with his inner spirits. Ichigo traced it back to its source and could have sworn that hell had frozen over. Since when did his _inner hollow_ feel anything remotely like _fear_?!

Apparently, Zangetsu felt the emotion, too. /_Shiro, cut it out! You're making this thing bigger!_/

Ichigo felt Shiro twitch beside him. **That wasn't me!! **he objected.

/_Perhaps Shiro's feelings are cycling through Ichigo and enlarging this cyclone_./ Zangetsu mused, ignoring Shiro's vehement denials and Ichigo's heated protests that hollows didn't feel fear. Zangetsu suddenly gasped and all three parts of Ichigo's soul winced as the hurricane pushed forward, completely engulfing the buildings that controlled Ichigo's pain receptors and creeping in on Ichigo's long-term memories.

_Shiro, we don't have time for this! _Ichigo shouted mentally. There was an annoying buzzing in his head and he felt disconnected from his body, save for a pins-and-needles sensation in his left foot. Ichigo's knees crumpled and he abruptly found himself on all fours. _Shiro!_

* * *

Shiro was faced with a quandary: keep his silence and possibly drive them all insane or inwardly admit that he'd been acting unhollow-like. Sanity vs. pride. Before the time warp, Shiro would have chosen to keep the latter without hesitation. Hell, he wouldn't have even been having this conflict, and he wouldn't have been feeling the offending emotions in the first place! But then King had been thrown into the past, and something within the time stream, or Urahara's device, or both, had changed him on some base level. Shiro suddenly found rational thought a lot more appealing than before, and he abruptly felt that sanity was much more important than pride. So what was holding him back? Shiro was no coward, so why was he acting like one?!

Resolve hardened, Shiro sat on the ground and shut his gold-on-black eyes.

Shiro wondered what he was supposed to do. Why did a _hollow_ need to soul-search? Shiro wouldn't have _ever_ done this before the warp, but the backwards situation King had landed him in wouldn't allow Shiro to act as he normally would.

What did Zangetsu say to do? Accept that his power had changed, or something?

The changes had started with Urahara's device. The locks keeping Shiro in the darkest depths of his King's soul had suddenly been dissolved, catapulting Shiro back into King's sideways world. There were two sensations he remembered of the time: an unbearably painful migraine and a strange reiatsu that permeated through King's inner world. It had apparently been making subtle changes to Shiro's very being, since when he was able to think past the pounding headache, he realized that the destructive instincts that all hollows possess had been restrained to the point where his thoughts were mostly rational and logical. Emotions that Shiro had never experienced before reared their heads over the following days; amusement, sadness, confusion, and fear had thrown Shiro completely out of whack, but he soon adjusted to his new emotions. For example, when Zangetsu had stopped Shiro's fight with Ichigo and ordered him to leave during their first Sunday training session, Shiro, after no small amount of annoyance, had followed Zangetsu's orders, without the normal killing rage that usually accompanied someone's dismissal of him. Shiro had been so caught up controlling his newfound emotions that he'd paid little attention to his own power, and aside from an odd twinge or two when he sparred with Ichigo, there seemed to be nothing amiss with his abilities.

Then, when Ichigo had summoned the mask for Hokkaido, Shiro had been absolutely dumbfounded. Only a substantial change in his power could have altered the mask so drastically. How the hell could Shiro have not noticed _that_ significant of a change?! Was he growing weaker? Shiro really panicked then – weakness always led to death, in some way or another.

_/SHIRO!/_ Ichigo and Zangetsu screeched together. Shiro was vaguely aware of his King completely collapsing to the ground. Unpleasant emotions twanged through the mental bond that had Shiro flinching. Now was not the time to be panicking!

Shiro scowled in frustration. Even now, these stupid emotions were negatively affecting his King and Zangetsu! What had changed? Shiro mentally sorted through his memories. There were little hints of the answer seemingly everywhere in Shiro's memory, but nothing added up to the correct solution. Shiro knew he was missing something that should have been obvious, but-

The white Zangetsu hummed, its power flowing through Shiro unexpectedly, and the answer hit Shiro like a ton of bricks. How could he have been so _blind_? The emotions, the rationality, his separation from Zangetsu – which had been confirmed from the white Zangetsu's sudden power surge (perhaps as a defense from the impending insanity of the hurricane) – it all fit!

The knowledge was bittersweet in Shiro's mind. _Somehow_, without any of the parts of Ichigo's soul noticing, Shiro had managed to become an Arrancar…

* * *

Within Ichigo's sideways inner world, the howling storm calmed. After it became clear that the hurricane would no longer encroach on Ichigo's inner world, Zangetsu released the reiatsu he was using to hold the cyclone at bay and took a few moments to regain his strength. Keeping that behemoth at bay had taxed much of Zangetsu's reiryoku, leaving him weak and shaky. The zanpakuto couldn't remember a time when he'd ever felt so exhausted. When the whirlwind dwindled to a size that was hardly worth worrying about, Zangetsu materialized to one of the oddest sights he'd ever seen: his wielder was sprawled on the ground, comfortably resting, while the hollow was sitting in a meditative pose, an odd cross between an excited grin and a pained grimace on his face. Zangetsu really had to wonder about Shiro's sudden change in personality… after all, the hollow _had_ done a 180° flip from sadistic and insane to rational and somewhat restrained (though still sadistic at times).

* * *

When Shiro opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Zangetsu watching him expectantly while nudging a prone Ichigo with his toe. Ichigo stirred, then abruptly shot into a sitting position, blinking rapidly. After experimentally moving his various appendages and finding them to be just fine after the cyclone's departure he turned to Shiro and exclaimed, "So it was you!" He stood and continued, "Let's get back to the Academy before we're missed."

Zangetsu was scrutinizing Shiro oddly, as if he expected Shiro to violently refute Ichigo's first statement. Shiro supposed his behavior was downright peculiar, but he felt completely drained. He couldn't summon up sufficient energy to start an argument with his King.

Ichigo also picked up on Shiro's relatively peaceful demeanor. "Is something wrong? You're acting weird…"

"**I'm sure both of you have both noticed… certain changes… about me**," Shiro began. Ichigo's eyebrow twitched in irritation. What did this have to do with his original question? His annoyance was ignored, and Shiro spoke again. "**Especially you, Zangetsu.**" The zanpakuto nodded in confirmation. "**I'm acting more rationally, I'm separate from Zangetsu, and this white zanpakuto isn't a version of Zangetsu…**" Zangetsu's eyes widened in realization.

"Just spit it out already!" Ichigo scowled.

"_Isn't it obvious, Ichigo?_" Zangetsu interrupted. Ichigo's glare negatively answered the zanpakuto spirit's prodding. "_He's somehow turned himself into an Arrancar, Ichigo._"

One…

Two…

"WHAT?!?!"

* * *

After Ichigo stopped spluttering incoherently and making stupid comments, Zangetsu brought up several important issues that needed addressing. "_If you are indeed an Arrancar, why is Ichigo's mask still whole, and what is the name of that zanpakuto?_"

"**I don't know! Not knowing my own strength and abilities is incredibly frustrating...**"

"Then how the hell are we supposed to get stronger to use those powers? We don't have the time to experiment with your abilities!" Ichigo exclaimed exasperatedly.

"**I. Don't. Know!!**" Shiro snapped.

"_That's enough, you two. Be quiet_," Zangetsu ordered in a low tone, a grave expression on his face.

"What is it?" Ichigo asked worriedly. Zangetsu was the best reiatsu sensor of the three, and the zanpakuto had to have sensed something serious to put him in such a somber mood.

"_I don't sense anything extraordinarily different, but I have an ominous feeling of dread. We need to go. __**Now.**_" Zangetsu latched onto Shiro's arm and pulled them both back into Ichigo's inner world. Ichigo, sensing Zangetsu's urgency, shunpoed as fast as he could back to the Academy. Hopefully this new development had nothing to do with the visiting captain...

* * *

The 7th year advanced kido class was impressive, considering that Aizen was viewing students and not full Shinigami. There were a couple of promising kido users, but even the best of the bunch could only do up to the lower level forty spells without the incantation.

After the kido class ended and Aizen paid the proper courtesies to the teacher and students, he strolled leisurely to the last class he was viewing: the combined 1st-3rd year Practical Combat. There, he would be able to get a better grasp of Kira's, Hinamori's, and Abarai's current skill levels and possible growth rates as well as study Kurosaki's behavior a bit more. But when Aizen arrived, only three of the four freshmen were present. Upon an inquiry to Matsumura, he discovered that the freshman in question had been feeling unwell and had been excused from classes for the day by Chikako Kimoto, the reiatsu control instructor. Aizen made a mental note to visit the infirmary after class.

To Aizen, Practical Combat classes were always extremely interesting to watch. Tatsuya Matsumura was ingenious in combining the four fighting arts in unique combinations; even Aizen had to be impressed. The man could have easily been made a captain if he had more reiryoku and a bankai.

Kira, Hinamori, and Abarai kept up surprisingly well, even as well as some of the third years, but they all had troubles using kido with zanjutsu, especially Abarai.

Throughout the class, Aizen gave pointers to each of the students to help improve their performance. He knew that almost every student would leave the class with loyalty to him. After all, they'd been paid special attention to the 5th squad captain, hadn't they? Loyal squad members were likely to deny anything malicious about Aizen's mannerisms.

After the class, Aizen again exchanged pleasantries with the teacher and then headed off to the infirmary. It wouldn't be out of character at all for a "caring" captain like himself to visit the infirmary to lift the bedridden students' spirits (and possibly give some hints to help avoid the nurses' lair in the future). Hopefully, once there, Aizen would be able to finally have a one-on-one chat with Kurosaki.

* * *

Ichigo arrived at the Academy only a few minutes before the last class ended.

/_Go check in at the infirmary so that you don't get in trouble, then let's retire to the dorm._/ Zangetsu suggested. /_Aizen can't go there if he wants to keep his façade up._/

Ichigo dashed to the infirmary and, upon interrogation from the nurses (since they, too, had received a hell butterfly from Kimoto), Ichigo informed them that he'd been resting in his dorm and currently felt perfectly fine. The nurses didn't let him go until they'd run a diagnostics spell on him, during which Ichigo became increasingly fidgety. They finally cleared him to go after ordering him to head straight to his dorm for more rest, and Ichigo dashed back to the relative safety of his dorm. Hopefully the janitors had replaced his door by then...

* * *

Aizen sauntered into the infirmary and warmly greeted the nurses on-duty and the currently bedridden students. Both groups immediately became star-struck in his presence. After exchanging the pleasantries and advice that his fatherly façade required, Aizen was finally able to query about the whereabouts of a certain orange-haired freshman.

One of the younger nurses answered, "Kurosaki-san was feeling unwell at the end of his fifth-period class, so he rested in his dorm throughout all of the sixth period and recently came here to claim that he was just fine; all he needed was rest. The diagnostics spell we ran on him showed that Kurosaki had a severe case of mental exhaustion, matching what he had told us. He left for his dorm just before you came, sir."

Aizen smiled and thanked her before exiting the infirmary. Kurosaki's mental exhaustion confirmed that Kurosaki had been consciously warping his reiatsu, and it _had _worn out the freshman, but it didn't seem to do any lasting mental damage. Unfortunately, Aizen couldn't pursue the freshman into the dorms; students liked their privacy, and carelessly touring the dorms would seem out of character for the "understanding" captain. Sometimes, Aizen reflected, his façade was a pain to maintain. But it was a necessary deception if Aizen wanted to carry out his plans unhindered.

After reviewing the timetable Aizen had received at the front desk, Aizen determined that he and Gin would dine at the Academy and then leave. "We'll be staying for dinner, Gin, and then we can return to the barracks." After a few moments, Aizen added, "You've been awfully quiet."

"Ah, but if I wasn't, I'd scare away all the little kids," Gin sing-songed. "Wouldn't want that, now would we?"

* * *

Sentaro Kotsubaki groaned loudly as yet another stack of paperwork was slammed down in front of him by the third squad's lieutenant. Similarly, his partner, Kiyone Kotetsu, growled as the ninth squad's lieutenant did the same.

"Darn it! Why do we have to do all this paperwork? It's not fair!" she complained as the two lieutenants trotted away smugly.

"Because you showed up here drunk, _again_," Kaien Shiba stressed, annoyed, as he rounded the corner to keep an eye on his two troublesome fourth seats.

"But _lieutenant_," Kiyone whined. "Why'd you have to give us _paperwork_?"

Kaien glared. "Punishment is punishment. You can't come crying to me because you two keep failing to do your duties! Now get on with it!"

"Well, it looks like someone's in a bad mood," Kiyone huffed.

"One would think that you two would have learned your lesson, especially after I sent you two to the Academy to help the janitors with their cleaning," Kaien commented dryly.

"Menial?! I get stuck with kitchen duty, and Sentaro over there gets to test the newbies! His job was anything but menial!" Kiyone protested.

"It's not my fault that my abilities are in higher demand than yours," Sentaro said slyly.

"You just shut up! My abilities are far superior to yours, and it's not my fault that sexists run the Academy!" Kiyone fumed.

"Excuses, excuses," Sentaro grinned. "Just admit it: they respect me more than you!"

"Is that so?" Kiyone growled. "You're nothing but a stupid, lazy-"

"WILL YOU TWO JUST SHUT UP AND GET WORKING?!" Kaien roared.

"Hai!" Both troublemakers returned to their respective mountains of paperwork.

"By the way, lieutenant?" Sentaro called at a much more reasonable volume. "Tell the captain that we should visit the Academy sometime! There's someone there he should meet!"

"Really?" Kaien looked interested. "Who is it? Is it that prodigy that's getting assigned a seat before he even graduates? Oh, what's his name?..."

"It's not him. It's one of the freshmen I tested. He sparred equally with me in hakuda, knocked out one of the other testers attempting a low-level bakudo, and beat me in zanjutsu in only five minutes (1)," Sentaro responded calmly.

Kiyone laughed. "Stupid Sentaro, getting beaten by a freshman who hadn't even had a single class yet!"

"Shut up Kiyone!" Sentaro barked. "He'd obviously been trained before, and his reiryoku was level seven, so even _you _would have probably been overwhelmed!"

"A freshman defeating a fourth seat?" Kaien said in disbelief. "That sounds just like Gin Ichimaru's record, being on a lieutenant's level right after graduating… Who is he?"

"His name was Ichigo Kurosaki," Sentaro spat around Kiyone's hands tugging at various parts of his face. "Ow! Stop that, Kiyone!"

"A strawberry, huh? Interesting name for a guy," Kaien murmured.

"I thought so too!" Sentaro declared after sending Kiyone headfirst through one of the windows. "And he looks just like you, lieutenant! Except he has bright orange hair!"

"Hmm… Perhaps we should talk to the captain about visiting the Academy sometime this year," Kaien grinned. "We wouldn't want the other squads to call dibs on the prodigy, would we?"

"No sir!" Sentaro and a recovered Kiyone shouted simultaneously.

* * *

(1) I'm sure you're all wondering why I lengthened the time Ichigo took to beat Sentaro. I redid the chapter where Ichi's tested AGAIN, since I think it's the one that needs the most work. Other than reworking most of the text and removing shundo from Ichi's arsenal of moves, this is the only major change I made to the chapter.

Reiryoku means spirit energy, for those of you who don't know.

In the last chapter, I had someone ask if the things I had put in parentheses (the names Rin and Muguruma) were questions. They're not; they're the characters thoughts – they're asking themselves if that's the name of the person or not. That's the way my whole fic has been operating, and it won't change now. Just to clear thing up with those of you that were wondering…

By the way, when I put adjectives like "kind" and "understanding" in quotations in regards to Aizen, he's quoting what other people have said about him, not sarcastically giving himself those descriptions.

I haven't had any requests for a list of teachers, and I'm mildly surprised. Anyway, I'm posting a list here so that you can keep the teachers I've introduced straight in your head.

Hotaka Hokkaido – 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year hoho  
Takeshi Ikoto – 1st year zanjutsu  
Suzume Kiyosugi – 1st and 2nd year kido  
Koichi Akamizu – 1st and 2nd year hakuda  
Chikako Kimoto – all years reiatsu control  
Yuka Morishita – all years healing  
Eiji Tanikawa – all years zanpakuto meditation  
Tatsuya Matsumura – all years Practical Combat  
Akihiro Nakajima – 6th year advanced zanjutsu and 7th year regular kido  
Raiden Tsukino – 7th year advanced hakuda and 7th year advanced zanjutsu

Alright, I have a new poll on my profile. It's very similar to the old poll, though this one is a bit more specific… Do me a favor and vote on it, please?

Wow, the author's notes were long in this chapter... I really like the second part of the chapter, but I'm still really iffy about the first part... Ugh. Oh, and Ukitake & co won't be showing up at the Academy for a while, just to let y'all know...

-HM


	25. ROUGH smooth Relationships

Chapter 25 – ROUGH smooth Relationships

Thursday was, thankfully, nowhere near as stressful as the previous day. True, Ichigo still had yet to smooth things over with Hokkaido and Kaede, but there were no traitorous captains lurking about that Ichigo had to avoid. His good mood did not go unnoticed by his classmates, and when they questioned him about, they deduced from Ichigo's answer ("Aizen's gone!") that he was completely and utterly insane. His friends wondered why they had become so attached to such a backwards person in the first place.

"But yet you're still crazy enough to love me anyway," Ichigo grinned, earning himself a punch in the arm, courtesy of Rukia.

The shock of Shiro's revelation had also worn off, which left all three parts of Ichigo's soul eagerly anticipating that Sunday's training session. Zangetsu was quite curious to see what Shiro could do, given some time and experimentation.

Classes that day went by quickly, and Ichigo's teachers quickly discovered that an Ichigo in a good mood equaled a better-than-normal performance. Half the time of zanpakuto meditation was spent speculating about what Shiro should try to do first during Sunday training, while the other half was spent in a lively debate about whether or not Ichigo should "accidentally" materialize Zangetsu's human form in the middle of the class just to watch everyone's reactions. The mannequin Ichigo practiced healing techniques on didn't explode, and better yet, the "wound" Ichigo was assigned to heal was almost gone by the end of the period. Ichigo mastered multiple techniques that made use of both zanjutsu and hakuda, surprising Matsumura greatly. Not a single dummy was demolished in kido, giving Kiyosugi hope that her worst student was actually showing signs of improvement. Even Hokkaido was brought out of his deep brooding when he saw Ichigo literally bouncing off the walls in his hoho class.

However, Ichigo's good mood faded when Hokkaido called him over for a talk after class, a steely glint in his eyes. Well, Ichigo reflected, it was about damn time for this discussion anyway.

* * *

Hokkaido's final hoho class came tediously slow for the impatient teacher, though Kurosaki's antics did bring a smile to the solemn sensei's face. But he did have to wonder why Kurosaki was in such good spirits in the first place…

To Hokkaido's mild surprise, Kurosaki didn't look at all disturbed or apprehensive when Hokkaido called him to talk after class. In any case, Hokkaido had finally mulled over Kurosaki's situation long enough to decide what to do with the knowledge that Kurosaki was part hollow.

* * *

"You don't seem too surprised," Hokkaido observed after the rest of the freshmen had vacated the hoho building.

Ichigo shrugged. "I actually expected you to pull me aside sooner. That, or hordes of Shinigami would invade this place to exterminate me…"

Hokkaido winced at Ichigo's choice of words, but continued, "Anyway, I've thought about your… unique… situation for a while and I've come to several conclusions." Ichigo tensed in anticipation. "I've decided that if you or the hollow had wanted to hurt us, you probably would have done so already. I won't report you to the Seireitei right now, but I will if I sense you losing control again. I won't tell the other teachers either; I'll just tell them that you have a multiple personality disorder. I will, however, be watching you closely. Don't slip again." Seeing Ichigo's dumbfounded expression, Hokkaido chuckled. "You weren't expecting that, were you?"

Ichigo shook his head. "Most Shinigami in your position would kill me first, ask questions later. After all, hollows are inherently evil and must be eradicated, right?" he finished bitterly.

"That is true… however, it's not your fault that you have those powers. You said earlier that it was Urahara's fault, right?" Ichigo nodded mutely, and Hokkaido's face darkened. "About seventy years ago, Urahara was exiled for performing Hollowfication experiments on four captains and four lieutenants. One of the captains was a good friend of mine… I don't want anyone else to be punished by the Soul Society for suffering at Urahara's hand."

Ichigo's eyes widened and his mind spun. Four captains and four lieutenants?! The eight Vizards couldn't have started out as high-level Shinigami… "What were their names?"

"Squad five captain Shinji Hirako, Squad nine captain Kensei Muguruma, Squad three captain Rosé Otoribashi, Squad seven captain Love Aikawa, Squad twelve lieutenant Hiyori Sarugaki, Squad eight lieutenant Lisa Yadomaru, Squad nine lieutenant Mashiro Kuna, and Kido Corps lieutenant Hachi Ushoda."

Ichigo's jaw dropped open. "They used to be a part of the Gotei 13?!"

"You know them?" Hokkaido gasped.

"Yeah, they're the ones who taught me to control my inner hollow…"

"I can't believe that they're still alive," Hokkaido murmured. "Were they well? How did the experimentation affect them? Did they act subdued or depressed?"

"Last time I checked, they were just fine. They're like me, and have hollow powers, but I don't think that their inner hollows are as sane as mine…" _Considering that Shiro's an Arrancar._ "Um… Lisa, Rosé, and Love usually read or played various musical instruments. Mashiro acted ditzy and hyper, which annoyed Kensei a lot. Hachi was usually reclusive, since he needed peace and quiet to maintain the barrier around his home. Hiyori and Shinji were the loudest since they constantly argued. No one tried to stop them, even when Hiyori started sandal-slapping Shinji."

Hokkaido smiled sadly. "They haven't changed a bit… Thank you for informing me that Kensei-kun is alive and well…"

"Sure," Ichigo shrugged.

"Before I let you go, I have one more question. Why, with your powers and position, did you decide to come here?"

Ichigo thought silently for a few moments – he couldn't very well tell Hokkaido his _real _reasons for entering the Academy (training for a future war) – and after some ideas from Zangetsu, finally answered, "The Vizards were willing to train me in the Shinigami arts, but they wouldn't have put me in a position where I could protect those around me. My mother… was killed by a hollow, and I don't want anyone else to feel that pain!" Ichigo clenched his fists angrily at remembered pain.

Hokkaido kept silent until the freshman had regained his emotional equilibrium, then said quietly, "That's a noble cause. There are few here who share your same views, and of those, not one would be here if they shared your particular abnormality. You've got guts."

Ichigo smiled grimly. "Well, that's one way to put it…"

Hokkaido blinked at the freshman's slightly bitter tone, but shrugged it off and continued, "Thanks for answering my question. Anyway, I have a request." Ichigo visibly tensed. "Can I come watch this Sunday's training session? I love learning as much as teaching, and I have no idea of what abilities you hybrids can use," he concluded, eyes gleaming.

Ichigo stilled. His first instinct would be to angrily refuse, Zangetsu interrupted, /_Why not? He might have some ideas to help us tap into Shiro's potential. Just say yes._/

Ignoring Shiro's grumbling, Ichigo replied, "Alright… But I'll be carrying you again; I don't want anyone else to know where the clearing is."

"Fair enough," Hokkaido agreed.

"Meet me at the gates at five in the morning. This training session will take all day; you'd better leave a note or something so that your friends don't worry. I'll bring food." At the sudden mention of food, Ichigo's stomach gave a loud growl that echoed through the enormous room.

"Alright, I won't keep you any longer. Go ahead and get dinner," Hokkaido laughed.

Ichigo smiled embarrassedly and sheepishly scratched the back of his head before turning and dashing from the room. His good mood returned full force - Hokkaido hadn't deemed it necessary to chase him out, and he had gained some background information about the Vizards. Ichigo resolved to ask the Vizards about their transformation the next time he saw them. It was sure to be an interesting story.

Of course, an ambush by two certain students put a rather serious damper on Ichigo's cheerful demeanor: Kaede and Momo.

"Kurosaki! What have you done with Hokkaido-sensei?" Kaede demanded, her grip tightening on the asauchi at her hip.

"I haven't done anything!" Ichigo protested. Kaede had to confront him _now_? "This is about the incident a couple of weeks ago, isn't it?"

Kaede glared at him. "Since we're all on the same page, care to explain why your reiatsu turned hollow-like then?"

_What the...how the hell did they figure it out?! _Ichigo thought, alarmed.

/_They've been cooped up in the library all this time, haven't they?_/ Zangetsu realized. /_They haven't yet learned what _real _hollow reiatsu feels like, so play dumb!_/

_I know that! _Ichigo snapped. Outwardly, he schooled his facial expression into one of pure confusion, though he wasn't sure how convincing it was, considering his initial panic. "Hollow reiatsu? We haven't learned what the different reiatsu types feel like yet..."

"We've been researching in the library," Momo declared, glaring at Ichigo. "And while we can't understand why you look and act mostly like a normal person, whatever plans you have to massacre the Academy won't succeed! We'll stop you!"

"So you decide to attack someone whom you believe to be a hollow and a murderer without telling someone stronger of your suspicions?" Ichigo said, raising an eyebrow. He slapped himself mentally when both girls recoiled in horror. Now was not the time to be intimidating the two girls, but he really couldn't help himself. Ichigo sighed, "Look, I've got an embarrassing condition that I'd rather not spread all over the Soul Society, okay? I'm not a hollow! Do I look like I have a hollow's mask and hole?"

Momo faltered. "No..."

"So you say," Kaede challenged, eyes flashing. "A uniform could easily hide a hole, and hollows have a lot of unique powers. Your power could be to create illusions or something."

Ichigo inwardly groaned. Kaede was way too stubborn for her own good. What medical condition had Hokkaido given him? "I have a multiple personality disorder, alright?" Ichigo winced in embarrassment - even though it was a lie, it was still humiliating to give himself a false medical condition.

"And he's taking medicine to repress his second personality, aren't you, Kurosaki-san?" Hokkaido inserted smoothly, startling all three freshmen with his sudden appearance.

"Hokkaido-sensei!" Momo gasped in surprise.

Kaede looked stunned. Hokkaido-sensei hadn't been hurt. In fact, he was defending the freshman who had assaulted her! It was one thing if Ichigo told her something - his credibility had been completely destroyed - but it was another matter entirely if _Hokkaido-sensei_ backed up Ichigo's claims. "So... he's not dangerous?" she ventured hesitantly.

"When he's been taking his medicine, he's no threat at all," Hokkaido confirmed. "You just forgot on that day, didn't you?" Ichigo nodded mutely. "Do your fellow classmate a favor and keep this quiet, okay? And bring all questions and uncertainties about him to me. Now run along to dinner."

Kaede and Momo, still looking dumbfounded, chorused, "Hai!" and dashed off to the cafeteria.

Once the two were out of earshot, Ichigo said sincerely, "Thanks, Hokkaido. That was some pretty quick thinking on your part."

Hokkaido shrugged. "Sure thing. Let's go to dinner, shall we?"

* * *

Ichigo's good mood returned the following two days and proved to be infectious; his friends found their spirits lifting, as well. Kaede stopped avoiding Ichigo, so naturally Momo was drawn in, as well. Rukia greatly enjoyed the company of the other girls, as did Izuru. Unfortunately, Ichigo's friends seemed to be mad at him when he announced that he'd be doing solitary training that Sunday, but it couldn't really be helped, not if Ichigo wanted to keep his skills sharp for the war.

Shiro awoke Ichigo early Sunday morning to prepare for that day's training session. After filching food from the kitchens, Ichigo shunpoed through the empty grounds and to the Academy gates, where Hokkaido was waiting for him. After terse greetings, Ichigo slung Hokkaido over his shoulder and disappeared in a flash of shunpo.

* * *

Ichigo finally made it to the clearing. He set Hokkaido down, then abruptly materialized Shiro. Ichigo was also tempted to materialize Zangetsu, but the zanpakuto point-blank refused to allow himself to be brought into the real world. Zangetsu apparently didn't want Hokkaido to know that Ichigo, a freshman, had mastered shikai and the materialization of his zanpakuto's spirit (a skill that few Shinigami obtained in their lifetime), never mind bankai.

"What do you usually do during these training sessions?" Hokkaido asked, eyeing Shiro warily.

"Well, up until now, I've just sparred and worked on improving my Shinigami powers," Ichigo admitted. "Other than the power boost that I get from the mask, I don't know what my other hollow-like abilities are. I'm guessing I can use generic hollow powers, like Cero, but I don't know the extent of my abilities."

"Hmm…" Hokkaido mused. "That's an odd predicament, since hollows usually gain their abilities through instinct. Maybe you could fight each other and see what abilities you can instinctually use? Or you could start with trying to fire a Cero… Cero should be a lot like kido."

"**Then again, King sucks at kido, so that's probably not a good idea**," Shiro said, ignoring the glare Ichigo shot at him.

"So sparring it is," Hokkaido concluded. "How destructive are you two while sparring?"

"Very," Ichigo assured. "You'd better step back a ways…"

Hokkaido backpedaled to a distance that he thought was safe, but Ichigo waved him further away. Hokkaido thought that being on the fringes of the Sekki-Sekki boundary was a bit much, but he'd humor the freshman.

"Ready, Shiro?" Ichigo grinned.

The answering smirk was feral. "**I can't wait to learn new ways to kick your ass!**"

Shinigami and Arrancar both fazed out of view with their respective speed techniques and reappeared several feet above the ground, materialized, oppositely-colored zanpakuto clashing together. Their reiatsu kicked up dust and debris, creating a gritty whirlwind that tore throughout the clearing and flabbergasted the single spectator who was, incidentally, trying to keep himself from toppling over at the edge of the clearing.

* * *

Hokkaido gaped at the freshman and his inner hollow as the two nonchalantly displayed skills and power levels no normal Shinigami would (or should) have. For one, they were carelessly emitting reiatsu that would rival a captain's. For another, their skills in zanjutsu could have been paralleled only by the highest ranking officers. Lastly, the zanpakuto they were battling with (which Hokkaido fuzzily recognized from his attack a few Sundays previous) had the one of the oddest shapes Hokkaido had ever seen – there were neither hilts nor guards, and ribbons that were tied around the grip fluttered elegantly through the air. Only zanpakuto in shikai were oddly shaped. But freshman didn't obtain shikai!

_Freshman don't have inner hollows, either_, Hokkaido reminded himself.

Hokkaido winced as the reiatsu from Kurosaki suddenly spiked. "Getsuga Tensho!" he freshman roared, slashing downward with the zanpakuto. Hokkaido's eyes bulged as a huge blast of bluish white energy sped toward the Shinigami's snowy doppelganger. The hollow made no move to dodge; instead, it countered with a screamed, "**Getsuga Tensho!**" that sent a red-rimmed black crescent racing toward Kurosaki's original attack. The two exploded upon collision, creating a dust cloud that obscured Hokkaido's vision.

There was no doubt in Hokkaido's mind. Regular, sealed zanpakuto were unable to produce kido or energy attacks of any kind. When the hell had Kurosaki (and, apparently, his inner hollow) obtained shikai?!

"Stop!"

* * *

Ichigo halted in annoyance at Hokkaido's shouted command. Shiro, however, kept speeding forward, the white Zangetsu poised to stab Ichigo through. Caught unawares by the dust cloud and Ichigo's sudden cease in movement, the Arrancar was unable to stop his reiryoku-enforced charge and ended up stabbing Ichigo through the gut. This normally wouldn't have been a problem if the two had been sparring in bankai, but since they were sparring in the larger shikai state, the white Zangetsu ended up puncturing multiple organs and causing a whole lot more pain. The destruction of a good number of Ichigo's inner organs also effectively immobilized the Vizard, since the damage done was only slightly less severe than the havoc wrecked upon Ichigo's body when Aizen nearly cut him in half.

Ichigo hit the ground with a thud, Shiro following closely behind, looking slightly guilty. The white Zangetsu was still embedded within Ichigo's torso, since, due to the size of the injury, removing the blade would result in a monumental amount of blood lost, and coupled with a lack of successful movement, would effectively put an end to that Sunday's training session. That would greatly upset Ichigo, since he tended to not care about his physical condition while training.

* * *

Hokkaido hurried over worriedly. He didn't know how Kurosaki was still conscious after receiving a wound like that. Hokkaido shot a glare at the subdued hollow before saying to Ichigo gently, "The zanpakuto needs to come out. I'm going to pull it out, then staunch your bleeding with what healing I can do, alright?" Ichigo didn't respond. Hokkaido surmised that the freshman was in shock, then tightly gripped the zanpakuto's hilt wrapping in preparation to remove the zanpakuto. Hokkaido tugged, and the reverse-colored zanpakuto slowly slid from the freshman's torso.

* * *

Even a single breath hurt abominably, with the white Zangetsu stuck in Ichigo's diaphragm. The pain triggered a memory of a white version of his bankai stuck in the exact same spot. Ichigo blinked as a figure faded in and out of focus. What was Hokkaido doing, pulling out Ichigo's weapon from his stomach?

* * *

Due to a shift in his King's reiatsu, Shiro felt the impending assault before it occurred – after all, Ichigo had used the exact same technique against him during their battle for domination. Shiro tackled the hoho teacher, making him release his grip on Shiro's Zangetsu, just as a black wave of Ichigo's blood mixed with reiatsu flowed up the blade, engulfing it.

Great. King was running on autopilot, as seen when he pulled the white Zangetsu from his torso in preparation to attack. Stupid wartime instincts.

* * *

Blood poured from Ichigo's torso. It hurt…

There was an Arrancar in front of Ichigo. Had it done this?

Ichigo's legs shook. The blood loss was rapidly sapping his strength. It needed to be stopped.

Gathering hollow reiatsu in his hand, Ichigo lifted the hand that held the black Zangetsu and raked a hand over his face.

* * *

Hokkaido's jaw dropped as Kurosaki summoned his hollow mask and a white liquid exploded from his wound, quickly forming a shell of sorts that stopped the bleeding.

"What?..." he breathed. Perhaps Hokkaido's initial decision to keep Kurosaki's powers a secret had been unwise…

Something squeezed Hokkaido's midsection hard, and he realized with a jolt that Kurosaki's white doppelganger had saved him from whatever attack Kurosaki had preformed. Hokkaido was still tucked under its arm.

The hollow jerked with surprise as a reiatsu foreign to Hokkaido filled the clearing.

* * *

Another fuzzy figure appeared in Ichigo's vision. Before Ichigo could attack, the swords disappeared from Ichigo's hands. The figure grabbed onto Ichigo's shoulders, and he fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

Shiro breathed a sigh of relief as King slumped into Zangetsu's arms. He had no idea why King had been so far out of control of his instincts, but he was just glad that Zangetsu had stopped his King. Otherwise, it would have been immensely difficult to counter King weaponless as well was prevent Hokkaido from being harmed.

Shiro scowled. He was picking up King's annoying habit of protecting bystanders. Damnation.

"Um, can you put me down?" a voice asked from below Shiro. That's right; he was still holding the hoho teacher.

Shiro dropped Hokkaido onto the ground and strode toward Zangetsu, leaving one bewildered sensei behind him.

"**What happened to King**?" Shiro asked as he approached Zangetsu.

"_I can only guess_," Zangetsu sighed wearily. "_The combination of your stab triggering memories, Ichigo's complete acceptance of his hollow powers, and his wartime mentality probably triggered hollow-like instincts._"

"**Well, great. Now what? We can't possibly continue training.**"

"_At the very least, we know one of your hollow abilities_," Zangetsu rumbled. "_Take a look._"

Shiro examined the white covering on Ichigo's torso. "**High-speed regeneration?!**" Zangetsu nodded. "**If the wound's healed, then we can still keep training!**"

Zangetsu sighed. "_No, we can't. I'm not talking about Ichigo, Shiro. Hokkaido looks pretty shaken; continuing to train would be a bad idea._"

Shiro scowled in the hoho teacher's direction. The damned man was going to be his King's undoing; Shiro was sure of it. Who in their right minds would have tried to stop a fight as fierce as Ichigo's and Shiro's spars, anyway?

* * *

Hokkaido traveled to the hollow and the mysteriously appearing man in black on shaky legs. Watching the freshman's training session and sudden loss of control had provided more questions than answers for the hoho teacher.

"_I apologize that you had to see that. Ichigo's training with the Vizards gave him the instincts of a soldier in the middle of a war, which was why he acted so strangely_," the man rumbled as Hokkaido approached.

"Who are you?" Hokkaido blurted.

The mysterious man just stared at Hokkaido intensely, making him fidgety and uncomfortable. However, before the man could answer, Kurosaki started to stir.

* * *

Zangetsu knelt down as his prone wielder began to awaken. Hokkaido watched Ichigo nervously, while Shiro tried to look unconcerned, but failed miserably.

"Wh… What happened?" Ichigo breathed weakly.

"_Shiro injured you badly, and it awakened hollow-like instincts_."

"Oh…" Ichigo's voice gained strength. "I actually don't feel too bad…"

Zangetsu chuckled. "_Take a look down._"

Ichigo did so, and the forest immediately rang with, "WHAT THE HELL?!"

* * *

After Ichigo recovered from his mini panic attack, he wondered aloud, "Does this stuff have a time limit for healing?"

Both Shiro and Zangetsu were silent, so Hokkaido haltingly said, "The white substance of high-speed regeneration usually disappears once the wound's healed. Maybe you haven't healed yet? But taking this long to recover is unheard of… Try breaking off the shell."

Shiro shot Hokkaido a surprised look, but Ichigo took Hokkaido's suggestion and rammed a fist into the white material, cracking it. Chunks of the material slid off of Ichigo's stomach, revealing scarred skin beneath.

"_Perhaps it was healing your organs as well as closing the wound_," Zangetsu speculated.

Ichigo stood, albeit a bit shakily. "Where'd my zanpakuto go?"

Zangetsu extended a hand, and his sheathed shikai form appeared within his grasp. However, along with the normal blade, the white Zangetsu appeared as well. Zangetsu deftly snatched it out of the air before it could hit the ground, looking surprised.

"**Wha?...**" Shiro gaped. Why was _his_ sword responding to the summons for _Ichigo's _zanpakuto?!

Zangetsu handed Ichigo his normal shikai form, then examined his white counterpart's form, looking utterly bewildered.

"Did I do any weird attacks while I was… out of it?" Ichigo asked in a strange tone of voice.

Shiro shot him an odd look. "**Yeah, you used the blood technique that made my zanpakuto yours in our inner battle. Why?**"

"Just a feeling I have," Ichigo said, staring at the white Zangetsu. Abruptly, he grabbed it from his zanpakuto spirit's grasp. "Let me try something." The black ribbon unwound, and Ichigo slashed the blade downward, saying softly, "Getsuga Tensho." Instead of the usual bluish white or reddish black, a purple-rimmed, royal blue crescent sprung from the tip, creating a large canyon in the middle of the clearing. The other observers were speechless.

Zangetsu was the first to rediscover his voice. "_I guess that means that you claimed Shiro's zanpakuto as your own?..._"

"What in the world does _that_ mean?" Hokkaido questioned, though neither Zangetsu nor Shiro gave him an answer.

Shiro just gaped at his King. _His _zanpakuto was responding to Ichigo's commands?! Did that mean that his King would have a Resurreción, on top of a bankai?!

* * *

Hokkaido's gaze shifted between Kurosaki, the hollow, and the man in black, getting increasingly annoyed with the lack of response he was receiving. Well, if no one would answer his original query, perhaps they'd respond to a simpler question. Kurosaki and the hollow obviously knew who the man in black was. "Who are you?" he asked the man.

The man's gaze shifted to him, obviously deciding whether or not to answer Hokkaido. He finally said, "_I am Zangetsu_."

Well, at least the name was a start. It was a pretty impressive name, too. Cutting Moon? It sounded like a zanpakuto's name, rather than the name of a normal person. It was familiar, too. Where had Hokkaido heard it before?... "What are you?"

Again, Zangetsu mulled over the question before answering, "_I am Ichigo's zanpakuto._"

Hokkaido's jaw fell open for what seemed to be the millionth time during the training session. Not only did the freshman have _shikai_, but he could also materialize his zanpakuto's spirit?! A simple freshman had gained a skill a 900+ year old teacher hadn't achieved?!

Before Hokkaido could question further, Zangetsu continued, "_Ichigo needed to be able to materialize me to be able to combat his inner hollow._" Hokkaido nodded dumbly.

* * *

Ichigo inwardly sighed with relief. It was a good thing that Hokkaido had bought the lie completely. "Can we get back to the Academy? I need some time to rest, as well as think about what happened today," Ichigo heard himself say.

"Sure," Hokkaido hastily agreed, looking worse of the wear himself.

After a pointed look from Zangetsu, Shiro dematerialized, Zangetsu following shortly afterward. As Ichigo sped through the woods back to the Academy, he contacted his inner spirits.

_Why did you tell him your identity, Zangetsu?_

/_I felt that it was the prudent thing to do, since Hokkaido would have never left us alone if I hadn't._/

Shiro let out a bark of laughter. "**You got that right.**"

In no time at all, Ichigo was back at the Academy. He bade farewell to Hokkaido, then returned to his dorms for a well-deserved rest.

* * *

I apologize or the lateness of this update; I got mostly through this chapter and then realized that I was sick and tired of writing about Hokkaido, and just wanted this plot point to be over and done yet. As a result, this chapter is really long, albeit (in my opinion) pretty boring (since it was SO hard to write). I apologize. Next chapter, I'll FINALLY be able to focus on Ichigo's interactions with the canon characters.

Again, people, I'd like to remind you that there's a poll on my profile. Please vote on it.

-HM


	26. Four Months' Memories

Chapter 26 – Four Months' Memories

Time passed. Three months went by in the blink of an eye as Ichigo settled into a comfortable routine. He improved his hakuda past his previous experience of karate and street brawling to the point where Akamizu was forced to forbid Ichigo from sparring with the other freshmen. "The students are here to learn and improve," he'd said, "Not to be flung across the room within three seconds of a spar's start." Ikoto soon adopted the same philosophy since, if anything, Ichigo gotten even more deadly with the blade. Ichigo completely mastered short-distance shunpo, so Hokkaido discreetly gave him exercises to increase the distance Ichigo could span with a single flash step. In kido, Ichigo had at least improved enough to blow up a mannequin only once or twice a week, since he still didn't have enough control to adequately perform the spells. He wanted to steal some books that would teach him advanced kido that required a lot of reiatsu, but he'd been so focused on improving his Shinigami and hollow powers that he hadn't had the chance. Surprisingly, due to Ichigo's enormous amount of spirit energy, he could turn out to be an excellent healer if he could make sure to not push too much energy into the being he was trying to heal. Matsumura had started giving Ichigo techniques from all levels of skill to master, given the freshman's incredible growth rate (though Ichigo remained at ground zero when it came to kido). Ichigo even made some progress with normal reiatsu control, though his body still lacked the durability to properly contain his enormous reiatsu. Ichigo and Zangetsu hadn't touched the abnormal reiatsu control since the first Sunday training session due to their preoccupation with Shiro's abilities. Ichigo didn't pay any attention to the teacher in zanpakuto meditation, since he either communicated with or sparred with his inner spirits the entire time.

Hokkaido had apparently talked to his colleagues, since they stopped watching Ichigo like hawks. Hokkaido didn't attend any more of Ichigo's training sessions, but he occasionally inquired about Ichigo's progress in learning about his hollow powers.

Ichigo had made considerable progress in mastering hollow abilities. He mastered high-speed regeneration, Cero, and Bala, and began to gradually perfect his own double bladed fighting style. Ichigo found that, while fighting with both Zangetsu and the as-of-yet unnamed white zanpakuto, he could use Cero and kido by lifting two fingers from the grip of one of his weapons and focus the energy blasts in that manner. It was risky, since it weakened Ichigo's hold on his blades, but he was getting better at firing the Cero/kido faster and reducing the risk of being disarmed.

Ichigo figured out that the oddly-colored Getsuga Tensho could only be produced by an Arrancar's blade coupled with pure Shinigami reiatsu. No one had any idea why the two were so compatible, but just as long as they produced a powerful attack, Ichigo didn't really care. He also discovered that combining Zangetsu's Getsuga and the white zanpakuto's Getsuga would result in an enormous deep purple-rimmed, cerulean crescent that was almost as powerful as Ichigo's bankai's black Getsuga.

Ichigo learned quite a bit about Renji's and Rukia's lives in Inuzuri and grew closer to Momo and Izuru. Ichigo promised himself that he'd visit the two when he returned to his own time. He had no idea where Kaede was in the Gotei 13, or if she was even alive in his time.

Ichigo's only close call occurred when Momo brought her friends to her home on one Sunday. Ichigo couldn't refuse without looking odd, so he grudgingly agreed to meet Momo's "sweet granny" and "cute little brother". Upon sighting Momo's younger brother, Ichigo had immediately blurted, "Toshiro?" eliciting several surprised looks and an outraged outburst from the white-haired boy in question. The rest of the visit was spent eating watermelon and enduring suspicious glares from the future white-haired captain.

And then came the fourth month of the school year, during which two incidents would be forever etched into Ichigo's memory.

* * *

"You summoned for me, captain?"

"Yes. Tell Kiyone and Sentaro that I've finally been able to find a free day to visit the Academy."

"They'll be ecstatic. What about you, captain? Will you be joining us?"

"Of cour-" Ukitake broke off in a fit of coughing. Kaien hurried to his captain's side, concerned.

"But you're ill; you can't go in this condition!" Kaien protested.

"I'll be fine in about a week or so, and that's when we'll be going to the Academy. Don't worry!" The reassuring smile Ukitake offered to his lieutenant was completely ineffective, since Ukitake's sickly appearance made the pale skin stretch wide, causing the smile to look hollow and fake.

Kaien studied his captain doubtfully. "If you say so."

* * *

"Hado 33 is Shakkaho!" Renji declared to the rest of his friends during lunchtime.

"Are you stupid, Renji? Hado 31 is Shakkaho, while Hado 33 is Soukatsui!" Ichigo said.

"But it says in my textbook that Hado 33 is Shakkaho!" Renji protested before digging the tome from his bag and presenting it to his friends.

Rukia snatched the book and flipped through it to the appropriate page. "You idiot! Someone scribbled all over the page and switched the two spells around!" She lobbed the book-turned-projectile at Renji's head, where it elicited a pained yelp.

"Having fun?" a somewhat familiar voice said. Ichigo halfway recognized the student – it must have shown on his face, since the student hastily added, "I'm Ryota Asukai. Remember me?"

Ichigo scratched the back of his head before deadpanning, "Not at all. Sorry."

"It's alright. Anyway, you may want to cut the horseplay. A captain and some of his subordinates will be coming any minute now. You wouldn't want to make a bad impression." Ryota then bowed and gracefully strode off, leaving his stiff classmates behind him.

"Another captain?" Momo gaped. "Don't they usually visit only once a year?"

"I can't believe it," Izuru breathed.

Kaede's mind was on a different subject. "Tch. Bloody noble."

"You know him?" Ichigo asked, trying to cover up his disconcertment from the announcement.

"He's a lesser noble. He doesn't have that much talent or reiatsu; his family just pulled some strings to get him in the advanced class, bypassing those who got in on pure talent," she grumbled.

"Were you two listening to anything he said?" Rukia exclaimed.

"It went in one ear and out the other," Kaede deadpanned.

"There's another captain coming!"

Kaede was caught off guard for a moment, then demanded, "What are we waiting for? Let's get to the front gates!"

* * *

Ichigo stood at the fringes of the crowd, ready to bolt if need be. He was only part of the captain's welcoming committee because he really didn't need to attract any more of his friends' attention; they monopolized enough of his time as it was. Plus Ichigo didn't really want a repeat of Aizen's visit.

A ripple traveled through the crowd, and Ichigo tensed in anticipation. Who was it this time?

* * *

"It's been a while since I last visited," Ukitake commented sadly.

"You've been getting sicker and sicker! You couldn't help it!" Kiyone protested.

"The captain feels guilty all the same! You should know that, Kiyone!" Sentaro chided.

"We're here," Kaien said dryly, forestalling the brewing argument, for which Ukitake was grateful.

The grand Academy gates opened, revealing a huge crowd of students clustered along the boundaries of an invisible path. Ukitake smiled warmly and nodded in greeting to the students. He scanned the crowd, taking in the young, excited faces and reminiscing of his own Academy days. An orange bush poked above the other heads, catching Ukitake's eye. He'd heard the tales from Kiyone and Sentaro about the orange-haired prodigy who looked exactly like Kaien. A couple more steps gave Ukitake a clear view of the student, and his eyes widened slightly in surprise. The student's resemblance to his lieutenant was uncanny; the two could have easily been identical twins, were it not for the hair, the lack of prominent lower eyelashes, and the fearsome scowl.

* * *

Ichigo inwardly sighed with relief when he felt Ukitake's reiatsu float through the crowd. Ukitake was one of the nicest (and most normal) captains in the Gotei 13, and he was also one of the ones Ichigo trusted the most.

Ichigo caught sight of the sickly captain and was annoyed to discover that Ukitake was staring right back at him, shocked. Maybe it had something to do with his lieutenant; after all, Ichigo had heard multiple stories about his similarities to the deceased lieutenant. Not yet deceased, Ichigo realized as a black-haired twin of himself came into view behind Ukitake. After the lieutenant came the two third seats who always bickered with each other. Though they were fourth seats in this time, weren't they?

Someone jostled Ichigo. "Are you Lieutenant Shiba's twin or something?" Renji whispered in disbelief.

"Of course not! Do I look like a Shiba to you?" Ichigo retorted furiously.

"Actually, you do," Renji pointed out.

"I'm not a Shiba!" Ichigo hissed furiously.

* * *

"So, which classes are we going to view, captain?" Kiyone asked excitedly.

"Let's see… how about upper combined zanjutsu, upper combined kido, and lower combined Practical Combat?" Ukitake suggested after scanning the schedule.

After flipping through the class rosters and examining the schedule meticulously, Sentaro declared, "Captain! I formally request to attend lower combined kido and lower combined hakuda instead!"

"I want to see the freshman who beat Sentaro!"Kiyone grinned.

"Fine, then. You two clowns can waste time making fun of each other in those classes while the captain and I look for new recruits," Kaien said.

* * *

Ichigo stiffened as a familiar voice yelled out, "There he is!" The two future third seats had run into the hakuda building and were chattering excitedly.

"Do you mind if we borrow one of your students, sensei?" the midget girl queried sweetly, smiling widely.

"Uh… sure…" Kiyosugi stammered, caught off guard.

The strawberry-blonde giggled excitedly before bounding over, latching onto Ichigo's arm, and dragging him out of the training room.

"What do you want, you crazy midget?" Ichigo yelped, which earned him a punch in the gut (courtesy of said midget).

"Don't call me short!" she yelled.

"Calling Kiyone a midget? That's gutsy. Very nice, Ichigo," the familiar man said.

That brought all of Ichigo's whirling thoughts to a screeching halt. "How do you know my name?"

The man pouted. "You don't remember me? I'm so hurt!" He clutched his heart theatrically in a way that reminded Ichigo of his father, then grinned and said, "Fourth seat of the 13th squad, Sentaro Kotsubaki!"

"Oh yeah, you're the guy I beat during the entrance exam!" Ichigo remembered.

"I still won't let him live it down," the girl said proudly. "The other fourth seat of the 13th squad, Kiyone Kotetsu. It's great to finally meet you!"

"Right… So what do you two want?" Ichigo asked warily.

"We just want to watch your classes," Kiyone said innocently.

"Uh huh. Real convincing."

"Well, we did make a bet…" Kiyone relinquished.

"You're the kind of guy who is great a hakuda and zanjutsu, but terrible at hoho and kido. I saw your talent at the test, but we want to know if it's actual talent or just beginner's luck. If you're good at either hoho or kido, I have to treat both Kiyone and Captain Kyoraku to all the sake they want. If you're not, then Kiyone has to treat Captain Kyoraku and me," Sentaro explained.

Ichigo growled in frustration. He couldn't break up a bet between the two, but perhaps… "Who made the bet?"

"I did," Sentaro declared proudly.

Well, if he couldn't stop the bet, then he could at least manipulate it so that Sentaro would lose. "Base your bet on my kido and hakuda classes only."

"Sure thing!"

* * *

/_Are you sure this is a good idea?_/

_Leave me alone, Zangetsu._

/_You'll never be able to do well enough in kido for Kiyone to win the bet._/

_Gee, thanks for your encouragement._

"All right, class, out to the training field! I'm going to assess your practical skills and memory for incantations!"

/_My point._/

_Granted. But I'll prove you wrong. I'll prove the world wrong. I can do kido!_

**Good luck with that.**

_You're not supposed to be out; Kiyosugi's here!

* * *

_

Sentaro gazed fondly at the familiar Academy training field, thinking of times when he was a mere student and earning more punishments than he could count for goofing off and shooting kido at a certain strawberry-blond midget.

"Darn it, Sentaro! Suggesting for the students to have a pop quiz is unfair! You're rigging the bet to make me lose!" Kiyone hollered in Sentaro's ear, ruining the moment.

"Shut up! We didn't set up any rules for the bet, so it's fair!" Sentaro retorted.

* * *

"First we'll drill bakudo, then hado. Do your best, especially since two fourth seats will be watching! Start with bakudo 1, then work your way up to bakudo 10! Begin!"

_Don't kill anyone don't kill anyone don't kill anyone don't kill anyone-_

" Bakudo 1: Sai!"

* * *

"So far it looks like I'm winning!" Sentaro crowed gleefully. It was true; Ichigo was worst with bakudo and continuously poured way too much power in the spells. Though the dummies had stopped being blown up, the binding spells regularly snapped limbs and shredded torsos.

"Now, let's see your hado! Demonstrate the hado we have learned: Hado 1, 2, 3, 4, 31, and 33! Begin!"

* * *

_Don't kill anyone don't kill anyone don't kill anyone don't kill anyone don't kill anyone-

* * *

_

Within a deep crevice of Ichigo's soul, Shiro suddenly realized something. Throwing caution to the wind, the Arrancar poked his head into the main part of Ichigo's mindscape and screeched, "**Zangetsu!**" Seconds later, the darkly-clad zanpakuto was speeding toward Shiro.

"_What is it?_" he hissed urgently.

"**I think that Ichigo's mindset is causing him to fail kido! It's just like training with Urahara – Ichigo was able to hold his ground and even beat Sandal-hat back when he changed his mindset and stood his ground without fear! Think about it – not once during kido class does Ichigo try to perform kido with resolve!**"

Zangetsu blinked, then said, "_I suppose we could give it a try…_" Shiro sunk back into his hideout, while Zangetsu relayed his idea to Ichigo.

_Well, I could give it a shot_. Ichigo's voice echoed eerily through the horizontal skyscrapers.

* * *

_I won't kill anyone. Lightning will shoot from my fingertips and destroy the target. No, not the target. It will blast clean through a hollow's mask._

"Hado 4: Byakurai!"

* * *

Kiyosugi stared in shock at the smoking remains of the target. Kurosaki, the worst student that she'd ever taught, had just shot a decent Byakurai. Granted, it had been too powerful, but it had been perfectly aimed and it hadn't fizzled out, blown up, or separated into several smaller bolts in the middle of the shot. Kiyosugi rubbed her eyes to confirm if she was just hallucinating or not. Behinds her, she could hear sounds of surprise and disappointment.

* * *

Ichigo grinned. His inner spirits' reminder of his resolve had really paid off. At least his hado spells would probably no longer be so terrible.

Ichigo glanced at the two fourth seats. Both looked rather perturbed, but the sound of approaching footsteps drew Ichigo's attention from the officers and to his kido teacher.

"Kurosaki," Kiyosugi began slowly, "You've been holding out on me this entire year, haven't you?" Ichigo gulped as his sensei's visage became more and more infuriated. This would not turn out well.

* * *

Only halfway through hakuda did Ichigo's ears stop ringing from Kiyosugi's loud rant. The two fourth seats fidgeted as Akamizu demonstrated the techniques that the students would be learning that day. Finally, the students pushed the desks aside and paired up to try the techniques. Ichigo was paired with a small, mousy third-year girl. Understandably, the girl looked bewildered as she easily knocked Ichigo to the floor for a fifth time. "Are you feeling alright?" she asked.

"I'm trying to make someone lose a bet. Just go along with it," he whispered to her. She shrugged, helped him up, then promptly knocked him to the floor again.

At the end of the class, Ichigo was very satisfied to watch Sentaro hang his head dejectedly and shake hands with a very smug-looking Kiyone.

* * *

Omake!

"Hado 33 is Shakkaho!" Renji declared to the rest of his friends during lunchtime.

"Are you stupid, Renji? Hado 31 is Shakkaho, while Hado 33 is Soukatsui!" Ichigo said.

"But it says in my textbook that Hado 33 is Shakkaho!" Renji protested before digging the tome from his bag and presenting it to his friends.

Rukia snatched the book and flipped through it to the appropriate page. "What do you know, this book does say that Hado 33 is Shakkaho!"

"What? That's ridiculous!" Izuru exclaimed, looking over Rukia's shoulder. He scanned the page before seizing the book and flipping it over. "Where did you find this, Renji?"

Renji shrugged. "It was just lying on my bed…"

Izuru looked him in the eye. "Then I give you this advice: don't use English Dubbed Kido as a reference!"

* * *

Geez,I can't believe how many dividers I used in this chapter...

Yay,fun filler chapter. The next chapter will be more loaded; we're finally going to have Ichi meet Kaien and Ukitake.

Finals are coming up, and that's why it's taken so long to get this out. I'm very sorry. Don't expect another update until sometime in June.

Good luck to anyone who has to deal with finals around this time of year.

-HM


	27. Meeting

Chapter 27 – Meeting

Kaien eyed his two subordinates. Sentaro seemed depressed, while Kiyone was just about bouncing off the walls in excitement. "What's gotten into you two?" Kaien queried.

"I won the be-et! I won the be-et!" Kiyone sing-songed.

"Yeah, well, you two clowns better behave in this class. Don't embarrass the captain any more than you already have."

"We won't!"

* * *

Ichigo stood in his place in the line as Practical Combat began. Matsumura was demonstrating the techniques that the freshmen would try to master by the end of the class period while the older students patiently waited for their own techniques to be taught.

The door to the training room creaked open and Ichigo stiffened as Ukitake strode in, his three subordinates trailing behind and looking rather annoyed.

"Sorry we're late; we had to help some injured students in our last class get the infirmary," Ukitake explained. He and his subordinates took seats at the edge of the training area on some conveniently located cushions. Matsumura continued instructing without missing a beat, though some of the students shifted nervously.

After Matsumura finished instructing the other students, he took Ichigo aside and began to teach him moves that combined hakuda and hoho and gave most seventh years trouble. Ichigo inwardly grinned – Sentaro had already agreed to buy the liquor, and demonstrating his real hakuda skills would just rub salt in the wound.

* * *

Sentaro scrutinized the sensei as he showed a hakuda/hoho move that was one of the most advanced seventh year techniques to Kurosaki, a freshman who was supposedly terrible at hakuda. What the hell was Matsumura thinking?

Then, of course, Kurosaki _had _ to perform the move perfectly on his first try.

Sentaro spluttered incoherently, pointing at the freshman. Kiyone and lieutenant Kaien followed his finger to Kurosaki, who was watching them out of the corner of his eye and trying to hide a smirk but failing.

Kurosaki did an impressive set of whirls and kicks which deposited him right in front of Sentaro. Sentaro blurted, "You're good at hakuda!" Upon Kurosaki's nod, Sentaro spluttered, "But – I mean – you were bad during hakuda class!" A realization dawned on him. "You were doing badly on purpose!" He said to Kiyone, "Now you should be the one buying sake!"

"That's not the way it works, Sentaro," Kiyone snickered. "You already agreed to buy the sake after hakuda. You'll still be stuck with the bill!"

"She's right, you know," Kurosaki inserted.

Sentaro looked ready to spring up and tackle the freshman, but a firm hand laid on his arm held him back. "I'm not about to have my subordinates attack students here, Sentaro," lieutenant Kaien said firmly. His gaze traveled to Kurosaki curiously, but it soon returned to Sentaro. "Mind our behavior. We wouldn't want the students to be scared of the 13th squad, would we?"

Sentaro muttered an answer that could have been either, "No, sir," or "Who cares?" but the lieutenant seemed to be appeased. By that time, that damned freshman had disappeared back into the throng of flailing students, too…

* * *

Kaien carefully watched Sentaro throughout the rest of the class, but his subordinate seemed content to simply send glares in Kurosaki's direction. The freshman was pulling off advanced moves flawlessly. He was also smirking contentedly, which made Kaien wonder how gutsy the kid really was – he had simultaneously pranked Sentaro, making him look like a fool, while forcing him to promise to buy sake for someone. Captain Kyoraku, perhaps, given Sentaro's extreme reaction.

"Do you want to speak with him after class?" the captain said gently.

Kaien jumped. "Er-"

Ukitake smiled. "Your gaze has lingered on him a lot. I'm curious to know why he looks so much like you. Is he a relative?"

"No…"

"Hm… how odd."

* * *

After Ichigo did some cool-down stretches at the end of class, he was startled when Kiyone approached him. "The lieutenant wants to speak with you outside," she said. Ichigo was almost tempted to refuse, but his desire to learn more about the deceased lieutenant he reminded everybody of overruled his caution.

Ichigo exited the building and looked around for the lieutenant. He didn't have to look far; Shiba was perched on one of branches of the nearby trees, relaxed. Upon Ichigo's approach, he jumped to the ground and patted the space beside him as an invitation to sit. Ichigo warily sat and waited for the lieutenant to say something, but he seemed content to simply lean against the tree and study Ichigo out of the corner of one eye. Ichigo did the same, and was taken aback by how similar he was to the lieutenant. They had exactly the same facial structure, save for the prominent lower eyelashes and the more relaxed expression on Shiba's face. Ichigo got the impression that he smiled a lot.

"So you're the one Kiyone and Sentaro have been raving about for the past few weeks," Shiba started after he realized that he would get no commentary from Ichigo. "You were pretty impressive in Practical Combat. Even more amazing, you made one of my idiotic fourth seats lose a bet and rubbed the loss in his face, which I don't think any freshman has done before."

Ichigo was taken aback by Shiba's friendliness. He'd heard from the other students that officers would usually be grilling students they were interested in about his/her background, skill level, etc, but Shiba was just chatting with Ichigo like an old friend. It was an odd feeling.

"Lieutenant of the best squad in the Gotei 13, the 13th squad, Kaien Shiba." Kaien extended a hand. Ichigo blinked with confusion, but shook it hesitantly.

Kaien suddenly looked annoyed. Ichigo wondered what he did to irritate him. A fist suddenly crashed down on Ichigo's head.

"COME ON! A LIEUTENANT SHAKES YOUR HAND AND OFFERS HIS NAME AND YOU FAIL TO RETURN THE FAVOR?"

"Yes, sir," Ichigo squeaked. Normally, he would have screamed something insulting right back at Kaien, but he reminded Ichigo way too much of Kukaku. "My name is Ichigo Kurosaki." Kaien still looked annoyed, so he hastily added, "It's nice to meet you, sir."

Kaien raised an eyebrow. "You don't strike me as the type to roll over after a deliberate provocation."

Ichigo chuckled weakly. "You remind me of my friend's sister. She's a scary piece of work when she wants to be."

"I understand the feeling; my younger sister, Kukaku, has been getting rather violent lately, especially after I suggested that she should join the Gotei 13…" Kaien said.

Ichigo heard a couple of mental snickers, and Zangetsu hastily explained, /_Shiro finds it ironic that you're talking about the same person._/

Ichigo focused again on the real world to find Kaien staring at him intently. "You've already started communicating with your zanpakuto, haven't you?" Ichigo and Zangetsu jumped and tried to look innocent, but Kaien had a knowing glint in his eyes. "In fact, I think you've already achieved shikai, and if I didn't know any better, bankai as well," he mused. Ichigo must have looked panicked, because Kaien chuckled, "You should see the look on your face. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone except my captain if you don't want me to. So, what's its name?"

"I don't have a shikai, much less a bankai," Ichigo said weakly.

Kaien poked him painfully in the ribs. "Quit lying; I know your shikai's there. I can barely make it out, but it's there. You have it so well hidden that it's no wonder that the teachers couldn't notice…"

Ichigo would have continued denying it, but Zangetsu sent his approval, so he caved. "His name is Zangetsu."

"Cutting Moon, huh? Nice name. Mine's Nejibana, or Twisted Flower." After a few seconds of awkward silence, Kaien switched topics. "Could you possibly be related to the Shiba family in any way?"

Ichigo bristled. "I clearly remember dying and landing in the 78th district. There's no way I'd be related to you, since Shibas are nobles, right?"

Kaien twitched. "Not anymore."

"Oh. Sorry."

The two lapsed into silence, but it was soon broken by, "So, what do you think of the freshman, Kaien?"

"Gyahh!" Ichigo whirled around. "Ukitake-san!"

Eyes twinkling, Kaien listed, "Disrespectful, afraid of girls, a horrible liar-"

"Hey, I'm not afraid of girls!"

"See what I mean, captain?"

Picking up on Kaien's lighthearted mood, Ukitake playfully replied, "I most certainly do. I think Kurosaki would do well in the 13th squad, especially since he has a shikai."

"Absolutely," Kaien grinned at a flabbergasted Ichigo.

"Wha?..."

Kaien and Ukitake laughed. "Don't worry about the insults. They were just messing with you," Kiyone said, materializing at Ukitake's side.

Ichigo glared at Kaien. "Gee, thanks."

"You know what I think is refreshing about you, kid? You're not afraid to talk to us as equals. Some would call it disrespect, but I like it. All the rest of the students are tripping over themselves in fear."

"Kiyone, go interview the students in the Practical Combat class with Sentaro, alright?" Ukiatke interrupted, causing Kaien to scowl at him. After Kiyone scampered away, Ukitake continued, "Let's go to an empty training building, alright? I'd like to see Kurosaki's shikai."

* * *

_The young captain held the Soul Pager out, unsure of whom the 'apparent leader' was. Shinji grabbed it before one of the less polite Vizards could get their hands on it._

_"Hello?" So it was Jushiro on the phone. At least it wasn't Yamamoto; he wouldn't have listened to a word Shinji would have said._

_"Yo. It's been a while, Jushiro-san."_

_Shinji could swear he heard Jushiro's jaw hit the floor. "SHINJI HIRAKO?"_

"Yep. So, what do you people need?"

Jushiro ignored the question in favor of exclaiming, "You're alive!"

"Last time I checked, I was dead," Shinji deadpanned.

"You know what I mean!" Jushiro spluttered.

"Well, I haven't yet taken the next step in the cycle of reincarnation, if that's what you mean."

"How did you survive and escape?"

"It's a really long story."

"I've got time. Oh, hello, Shunsui. You'll want to listen to this." A click informed Shinji that another terminal had linked into the kid captain's Soul Pager. "Say hello to Shinji Hirako, Shunsui." There were several clanks in the background – Shunsui must have dropped the headphones.

"Shinji Hirako? Is it really you?" Shunsui's deep voice gasped.

"Why are you people doubting that I know my own identity?"

Jushiro cut the two off before they could get into a friendly verbal sparring match. "Can we at least listen to Shinji's story before you two start tearing into each other, please?"

"Fine. You're gonna be here a while, though, since I have one hell of a story to te-"

"And he's not telling it at all!" Hiyori screeched, smacking Shinji with her sandal. She had apparently awoken when all eyes were focused on Shinji.

Shinji went flying, but he maintained his grip on the phone. "I'm going out! Kensei, Love, Rosé, watch the kid and Orihime-chan!"

Ignoring the captain's yells of protest, Shinji ran, leaving the other Vizards in the dust.

"Sounds pretty wild over there. Is Hiyori still using you as a punching bag? And is Lisa-chan still alive?" Shunsui asked.

"Yes and yes. All of us who were experimented on are still alive," Shinji said darkly.

"Why don't you back up and tell us what happened from the beginning?" Jushiro suggested.

"Sure thing, but that'll make it even longer."

"One more thing. Why are you telling us all this when you've spent a century in hiding?" Shunsui queried.

"Aizen's come out as a traitor, and the Soul Society needs all the help it can get to defeat that madman."

"So… you'll be our allies?" Jushiro ventured.

Shinji snorted. "Don't make me laugh. The only reason we're working together is because I'm going by the philosophy 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'. Once Aizen is gone, you'll turn on us. We're part hollow, and no one in the Soul Society will want us around. Let me make this clear to you: our only shared ally in Ichigo Kurosaki, got it?" Both Jushiro and Shunsui seemed taken aback by Shinji's bitter tone. "Now, do you want to hear the full story or not?"

* * *

Zangetsu seemed to think that it was a good idea to show Ukitake his shikai. Both Ichigo and Shiro adamantly insisted that it was a bad idea, but Zangetsu shut them up with, /_Do you want them on our backs for the rest of the time we're stuck here?_/

Ukitake and Kaien were waiting patiently at the edge of the training area, aware that Ichigo was going through some kind of inner debate. Finally, Ichigo lifted his hands and summoned Zangetsu's shikai sword form to the outside world. He didn't count on the white, nameless zanpakuto appearing, as well.

"Amazing! You summoned your shikai without saying a word! Are you sure you don't have bankai?" Kaien gaped.

"And you have a double-bladed zanpakuto, too…" Ukitake murmured, studying Zangetsu and his white counterpart with an unreadable expression on his face.

_Zangetsu! Why did Shiro's zanpakuto pop out, too? _Ichigo hissed.

/_I have no idea why an Arrancar's sword would respond to a summons for a Shinigami's shikai…_/ Zangetsu responded, troubled.

"Do you know how to use two zanpakuto at once?" Ukitake asked, ripping Ichigo back to the outside world.

"Not really… I've been experimenting some on my own, but nothing really seems right…" Ichigo said.

"Well, you'll need to learn to use them at some point. Do you have one sword when your sword's sealed or two?"

"I have no idea. Zangetsu's permanently released, though I'd have to guess two separate zanpakuto."

Ukitake raised an eyebrow. "All zanpakuto can be sealed. You just don't have enough control over your own reiatsu to do so. I'd suggest learning to fight with your sealed zanpakuto before learning to fight with your shikai. If your basics are shaky, then your more powerful techniques are weaker, too."

/_I guess that's the problem with your power levels. You haven't quite mastered the basics, so you can't use shikai and bankai properly._/ Zangetsu mused. Ichigo ignored his zanpakuto.

"Kaien, do you mind waiting outside for me? There's something I'd like to discuss with Kurosaki-san alone." Kaien looked slightly displeased, but followed his captain's order. "Now, Kurosaki-san, I have a question for you." Ichigo had a really bad feeling that Ukitake was about to ask something that he really didn't want to answer. "Why do you have two separate zanpakuto?"

* * *

I told you people I'd put up something before I went on choir tour. Sorry it's really short... Hope the Ichi/Kaien conversation was to your liking.

-HM


	28. Tuberculosis

Chapter 28 – Tuberculosis

Ukitake stared impassively, his gaze boring into the freshman. His question hung in the air, petrifying Ichigo. Instead of doing to smart, logical thing and denying the accusation, he blurted, "How could you tell?" Shiro reacted badly to that, and Zangetsu had to bodily hold the screaming Arrancar in his hideaway. Ichigo winced as he felt his reiatsu fluctuate ever so slightly from the struggle.

"Your zanpakuto emit two separate reiatsu signatures. The difference is small and extremely difficult to pick out, but it's definitely there. The zanpakuto with the black ribbon seems to be… darker than its counterpart. May I see your zanpakuto?"

Ichigo handed his zanpakuto to Ukitake hilt-first. After examining the two closely, Ukitake mumbled to himself, "This one almost seems to not be a Shinigami's zanpakuto, but that's impossible…" Now addressing Ichigo, Ukitake asked, "Which one is Zangetsu?" Ichigo pointed to the appropriate sword. "What's the name of this other one?"

Ichigo shrugged helplessly. "I have no idea."

"Hm." After inspecting the zanpakuto some more, Ukitake queried, "Do you know why you have two zanpakuto?"

Running with the same excuse he'd used on Hokkaido, Ichigo said, "I had a run-in with Urahara."

Like Hokkaido, Ukitake scowled at the name. "Urahara? No wonder," he snorted. It did explain the mysterious reiatsu fluctuations when Kurosaki had been asked about his zanpakuto. "Did he do anything else to you?"

"Not that I know of."

"Urahara is known for conducting malicious, soul-altering experiments…" Ukitake trailed off, his tact preventing him from adding, "Your soul has probably been altered more than what you think." The poor boy had enough on his mind already to keep the rest of the Gotei 13 from finding out about him… "Why do you want to be a Shinigami?"

Ichigo was startled by the sudden topic change, but he still told Ukitake the same half-truth he'd fed to Hokkaido: that his mother had been killed by a hollow, and that he wanted to keep others from feeling that pain.

Ukitake's expression softened. "You simply want to protect those around you? How honorable of you…" Ichigo waited as the captain mulled something over. "If the Central 46 finds out Urahara experimented on you, they'll either have you executed or turned over to the 12th squad."

"What?"

"Don't worry; I'm not about to turn you in." Ukitake began to smile reassuringly, but his expression turned to horror as an all too familiar pain lanced through his chest. He doubled over, hacking. Ichigo hovered over him, concerned, and became alarmed when blood spurted from the captain's mouth. He knelt by Ukitake's side and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Eventually the terrible coughs subsided, leaving Ukitake on his hands and knees, gasping for air.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," he rasped.

"Sorry? There's no need for that. You need to go to the 4th squad for treatment, right?"

"Yes. Call Kaien; he'll take-" A couple more coughs wracked the captain's form.

Kaien seemed to have picked up on his captain's distress, and the lieutenant materialized in a shunpo beside his captain. "I'm sorry for being absent, captain; I was cleaning up a mess Kiyone and Sentaro made. I'll take you to the relief station right away," he babbled while gently picking up the sickly form. Kaien glared at Ichigo as if it was his fault that Ukitake had had an attack before vanishing.

Ichigo spent the rest of the day talking with his inner spirits and friends about the 13th squad's visit, which earned him several smacks from Rukia for "being spacey" and ruptured eardrums from Shiro for "spending too much time with his whiny friends". Still, even though Izuru insisted that the next time they'd see either Aizen or Ukitake would be at their graduation ceremony more than six years later, Ichigo had a funny feeling that he hadn't seen the last of the captain of the 13th division.

* * *

The instant Kaien set foot in the 4th squad's relief station with his unconscious captain in his arms, he was swarmed with nurses. One instructed Kaien to put Ukitake on a rolling bed that was being pushed by another, while others scurried around to find various helpful medicines and herbal remedies. A couple of nurses held glowing hands above the captain's chest while another ran off to find Unohana. The captain materialized next to the bed, which had been rolled into a solitary room by then, and began to use specialized healing techniques to treat Ukitake's illness. Unohana shooed everyone else out of the room, and when Kaien protested, one of the nurses threatened to tranquilize him to ensure his cooperation.

Finally, after what seemed to be hours, Unohana emerged, looking old and tired to anyone who knew her well. "Thank you for bringing captain Ukitake here so promptly. You saved him a lot of pain. He's awake and wishes to speak with you now." The words were barely out of her lips when Kaien bustled into the room.

"Are you alright, captain? I told you a week ago that you were too ill to visit the Academy," he chided. His voice then lowered, "I apologize, captain, for being unable to aid you quicker."

"I'll be fine, Kaien. You were able to get me here quickly, and I'm grateful for that. Don't beat yourself up." Ukitake noticed that his subordinate still looked guilty, so he abruptly switched subjects to take Kaien's mind off of his illness. "What do you think of Kurosaki?"

Kaien shot his captain a halfhearted glare as if he knew of Ukitake's intentions, but he still relaxed slightly as he answered, "He's a good kid. Powerful, too, especially with his shikai. I wouldn't be surprised if he has the capability to become a captain someday."

"Yes…" Ukitake trailed off, his expression souring as he remembered his talk with Kurosaki.

"Something bothering you, captain? Do you want me to get Unohana?"

Ukitake looked startled. "Oh, no, I'm just worried for Kurosaki…"

Kaien blinked. "What, does he have something that could get him in trouble with the higher ups?"

"He's one of Urahara's experiments," Ukitake sighed.

"What? What's something like that doing here, then?"

"He said he wants to protect those that are weaker than him, but I'm not sure if he's telling the whole truth or not."

"Truthful or not, it doesn't matter. Are we going to turn him in?"

Ukitake shook his head, looking queasy. "Can you imagine if Kurotsuchi got his hands on one of his mentor's former experiments?"

Kaien shuddered. "Point taken. But still, are we just going to let him run around at the Academy? He could be a ticking time bomb of sorts, even if he doesn't know it. Should we put him under surveillance or something?" Ukitake looked uncomfortable at the notion, but Kaien ignored the expression and mused, "We can't use the 2nd squad; you know who they report to…" Soifon was utterly ruthless and would not hesitate to permanently remove Kurosaki. "We could always use members of our own squad to watch him – I know that our squad has a few loyal people that were transferred from the Stealth Force. Captain Kyoraku would be willing to help, too, probably."

Ukitake kept silent while his subordinate chattered, his compassion warring with his logic. Eventually, though, Ukitake decided that the safety of the masses mattered more than the privacy of one, so he sighed, "Alright, fine. I really wish that this wasn't necessary…" He then gave his lieutenant an annoyed look. "You know that what we're doing is illegal on so many levels, right?"

Kaien grinned mischievously. "Yep!" he said cheerfully.

The door creaked open, and a deep voice said, "My, my, Jushiro. You certainly seem to be ending up in this place a lot more lately…"

"Shunsui!"

The laid-back captain smiled softly. "You sound so surprised, Jushiro. What, did you not expect your best friend to visit you while you're sick?" Ukitake responded with a glare before breaking into a smile at the expression of mock hurt on his friend's face. "So, how was your day at the Academy, aside from your attack?"

"Nostalgic. The campus has expanded so much since we were there… I was able to visit with one of our old teachers. Did you know that Tanikawa-sensei is still teaching zanpakuto meditation at the Academy?"

"Really? I'll have to visit the Academy sometime then… Not this year; the students have already been subjected to both you and Sosuke before the first semester is even over!" Kyoraku added hurriedly.

Kaien sat on one of the healers' chairs as his captain began rehashing the visit to his friend. The two captains seemed content to compare the current Academy to the one they'd attended centuries prior, occasionally asking Kaien for his opinion of the school. The conversation carried on until the last of the sun's rays had disappeared from the sky and a knock came from the door, the nurse on the other side saying that Unohana wanted all of Ukitake's visitors to be gone within the next half-hour.

Kyoraku sighed sadly, "Well, I guess it's time for me to go. But before I leave, I'm curious; what illegal thing were you talking about before I came in?"

Kaien repressed a groan. "This will take a while to explain…"

* * *

That Sunday's training session was very productive. Ichigo finally liberated _Mastering Advanced Kido _ and _Kido Spells 50 and Up _from Kiyosugi's private library and began learning the techniques detailed within (if blowing holes in the ground until the spell matched the description in the textbook could be called learning). Surprisingly, the higher-level kido spells were easier to learn, since Ichigo could use and manipulate greater amounts of his reiatsu. The easiest types of spells to learn were simple blasts of reiryoku, such as hado 54: Haien. He also perfected two of the hado spells he'd created with his unique reiatsu control. He first was a ball of condensed energy that could fly around at high speeds and explode on contact. The second was like a Shinigami's version of a Cero.

The week was relatively peaceful, except for an incident during Wednesday's combined zanjutsu class that was later fondly dubbed by Ichigo as the Asauchi Incident.

* * *

"Alright, class! No doubt you've heard the rumor that we will begin practicing with asauchi instead of wooden swords starting next week, which is, in fact, true," Ikoto said brightly, causing enthusiastic murmurs to sweep through the classroom. "However, I pestered the headmaster enough to allow this talented class to get their hands on the asauchi early!" At this announcement, the whispers increased in volume and the students began shifting excitedly in their seats. "Don't get too happy yet," Ikoto warned. "Handling a real metal sword is not the same as handling a wooden one. I wouldn't be surprised if most of you will be spending the remainder of this class period just getting used to the increased weight." The students became crestfallen, but Ikoto ignored this in favor of calling them up one at a time to receive their asauchi. Despite Ikoto's disheartening words, they were still enthusiastic about getting the asauchi. Soon the training room was full of students doing simple slashes and thrusts to get used to the new weight. Ichigo remained sitting, relaxed, at the side, since his asauchi was almost pathetically light compared to Zangetsu.

"Kurosaki, why aren't you using your asauchi?" Ikoto frowned after approaching the freshman.

"I can wield it effectively. Don't worry about it," Ichigo said, eyes still closed from his dozing against the wall.

"Well, then, go help your classmates. The point of this class is not to sit on your butt and be lazy. Don't let me catch you sleeping again." With that Ikoto stalked off to help a student who had somehow embedded his asauchi in the wooden floor.

Ichigo sighed heavily, but got up and stretched. After securing his asauchi in his obi, he glanced around and made a bee-line for Izuru, who was handling the asauchi better than most of the other students. However…

"Izuru, you're overextending. You're not compensating for the weight of the blade and allowing it to drag you along after it. Make your movements slower and more controlled until you get the hang of it," Ichigo coached. Izuru did as Ichigo suggested and found the blade easier to handle. "Do you want to spar?"

Izuru looked startled by the idea. "Uh…"

"We can do it in slow motion," Ichigo suggested.

Izuru looked reluctant, but his desire to try out the blade against an actual opponent overrode his objections. "Alright."

The two freshmen then began to spar using slow movements and exaggerated motions. Izuru's arms soon began to burn from the unaccustomed weight of the asauchi, while his partner looked bored (half-asleep, even). Izuru's movements were sluggish, while even with the decreased speed, Ichigo's blade danced through the air gracefully.

Sometime in the middle of the match, a cry rose from the other side of the room as one of the students fell over onto the floor. Izuru lost his concentration and stumbled forward, asauchi extended. Ichigo blocked the blade easily, but was unprepared when Kaede (who was in the same class) overextended, lost her balance, and fell forward, accidentally impaling Ichigo through the gut. Kaede staggered away, horrified, while Izuru stared in shock at the bloody sword protruding from Ichigo's body mere inches from his nose. Izuru hurriedly stepped away from Ichigo, who was staring at the blade numbly. The sword hurt like hell, but at least he wasn't coughing up blood or stomach fluids.

At the sudden cease of movement and horrified gasps, Ikoto hurried over from the other side of the training room. Upon seeing the asauchi impaling his star student, Ikoto ordered roughly, "Abarai, Kira, get Kurosaki to the infirmary. Don't pull out the sword; we don't want him to bleed out…"

Upon hearing Ikoto's voice, Ichigo snapped out of his shock-induced funk. "I'll be fine. I'll just walk there myself…"

Ikoto and the other students gaped at Ichigo who, by all rights, should have been keeled over on the floor, unconscious, or at the very least, unable to move from the pain. "Yes, well," Ikoto spluttered, "You'd make us all feel better if you had an escort or two." Renji stepped forward, since Izuru looked a bit green from being in close proximity to the bloody sword that was sticking out of his friend's torso. Ichigo mentally sighed – he'd battled captain-level opponents with worse injuries, but he supposed that continuing training with a bloody hole through the abdomen or a sword sticking out of his gut would unnerve more than a few students… Speaking of which, Ichigo gripped the blade, heedless of the cuts he got on his hands, and roughly pushed the asauchi from his body. It collided on the floor with a dull thud. By this point, Renji had become thoroughly nonplussed by his friend, so he took Ichigo's shoulder and guided him to the door.

The few students with free periods looked absolutely horrified when Ichigo strode past them, blood pouring from the hole in his gut and his pale friend trailing behind him. The nurses' reactions were only slightly better, their queasiness from the blood replaced with the astonishment that Ichigo could function almost normally with such a horrid wound.

Naturally, the healing kido coupled with Ichigo's insane amount of reiatsu guaranteed that the wound had completely closed up in only a few hours. The next morning, the healers were absolutely horrified to find Ichigo stretching and working out as if he hadn't been impaled the day before, and when they removed the bandages, only fresh, pink scar tissue remained. After running multiple diagnostics spells and finding his innards to be mostly intact, the nurses released him with a dire warning that they wouldn't hesitate to keep him confined in the infirmary for a solid month if they thought he was overdoing it.

Kaede greeted Ichigo that day with multiple, breathless apologies, which Ichigo nonchalantly brushed off with the reassurance that he didn't blame her for the accident.

Both Shiro and Ichigo found the entire incident to be humorous, considering everyone's reaction to the stab. Really, to someone who'd taken Kenpachi Zaraki's best and survived, a simple stab wound was nothing at all…

The rest of the week passed with the rest of the students tiptoeing around Ichigo, marveling at his will to not be fazed by being stabbed clean through.

* * *

"You're just mad because you lost a little money, Sentaro!"

" 'A little money'? _Only _a little? Kiyone, you and Captain Kyoraku drained me of more than 100,000 yen! I'll be in debt for months! All because Kurosaki-" the name was spat like a curse, "-decided to have a little fun and stomp all over me for simply making the bet! It's unforgiveable!"

"So you decide to stalk him on his day off?"

"Exactly! I'll get you, Kurosaki!"

* * *

"It's too quiet around here. Where are Kiyone and Sentaro?" Kaien wondered at the 13th squad's barracks.

"I think I saw them last hovering at the fringes of the forest. Maybe they decided to hide in the woods for a lazy day?" his wife, the 3rd seat of the 13th squad, Miyako, suggested.

"Sentaro's been in a rage all this week from his bet with Kurosaki. I hope he isn't doing something stupid…" Kaien sighed. There were agents watching the freshman in twelve-hour shifts, but aside from Kurosaki's disturbing lack of reaction to an asauchi through the gut during one of his zanjutsu classes, the freshman seemed to be a normal student (albeit a very talented student). If Sentaro was running around at the Academy trying to extract revenge from Kurosaki, it would cause no end of problems for the 13th squad.

"I'll go look for them. Is that alright, captain?" Kaien asked.

"Go ahead," Ukitake acquiesced, seemly thinking along the same lines as his lieutenant. After Kaien had vanished, Ukitake continued, "Miyako, oversee the kido exercises today. I'll finish the paperwork." Ukitake eyed the enormous stack of paperwork with trepidation. It would take a miracle to complete it all before midnight…

* * *

I know, I know. Let's burn the authoress alive for leaving with such an evil cliffie, shall we? And then disappearing for weeks? *sigh* I'm really sorry guys. Seriously, I had enough material to post this a while ago, but most of the material was OOC junk, and I didn't think y'all would want that…

Wow. I assume you all liked the last chapter, considering that I got over fifty reviews (breaking the 700 review mark! I couldn't believe my eyes!) for a chapter that was hot off the press (it was still fun to write though, unlike this one)… Thank you all for your very nice reviews.

Yay for the long drabble. This story needs a little humor; there hasn't been much lately… You could seriously imagine this happening, though. To forestall any complaints on lack of action to avoid the stab: pushing Izuru out of the way and then dodging wouldn't be fast enough to avoid the clumsy blade (doing so at shunpo speeds would probably send Izuru through the floor), and sidestepping would result in Izuru toppling forward and getting stabbed in the face. Ichi grabbing Izuru and jumping out of the way puts all three parties at risk (beginners (Izuru & Kaede) with blades tend to flail a lot – not ideal in this situation with three seconds of reaction time) and doing so with shunpo speed blows Ichigo's cover as simply prodigious Academy freshman sky-high… Anyways, not a lot of options, so Ichi just goes with the stab. He's had worse.

-HM


	29. Crazy Life, Normal Life

I'm back after a six month hiatus, so you all will probably need a summary to keep up with the proceedings thus far.

Ichigo gets sent to the past by a contraption he stumbles across in Urahara's basement, landing him thirty years in the past. He stumbles across Renji and Rukia, and he decides to enroll in the Shinigami Academy with them. Somewhere in the craziness of adjusting to his classes, visiting captains (Aizen and Ukitake - by extension, Kaien), nosy teachers (Hokkaido), and annoying inner hollows-turned-Arrancar (Shiro), he gains the animosity of Sentaro, who gets Kiyone to help him stalk Ichigo on his day off. In the present time, the Vizards are working on a device of some sort. Orihime was attacked by Arrancar and saved by Toshiro, Shinji, and Rosé; all three go back to the Vizards' warehouse, where Toshiro meets the Vizards and lends Shinji his Soul Pager. Shinji gives Ukitake and Kyoraku a detailed description of Aizen's experiment on them.

* * *

Chapter 29 – Crazy Life, Normal Life

Seeing a Shinigami patrolling in Rukongai was nothing out of the ordinary. In the higher districts, only Shinigami from the 11th squad dared to try and keep order, mostly because they enjoyed joining the frequent fights, the cheap sake, and the numerous prostitutes running around. In fact, a few of the thugs relished the Shinigami's company, since they always offered an excellent brawl.

On that particular day, one particularly bloodthirsty 11th squad member was trotting eagerly through the 76th district of North Rukongai, a hand held over the front of his shihakusho protectively. The man could easily feel a small lump through the fabric.

"_If you go to one of the higher districts and crush that pill, you'll be in for the fight of your life,"_ an unseated Shinigami had said as he dropped it into the hands of the 11th squad member.

Finally, the bloodthirsty Shinigami reached the outskirts of the district – it wouldn't do for the resident thugs to hog all the fun when the pill was crushed. Drawing it out of his shihakusho, the Shinigami crushed it between his fingers, never once wondering about the opponents the pill would provide him, nor about the consequences of his one tiny action.

* * *

"So, what should we be working on today?" Ichigo asked as his inner spirits materialized in the familiar Sekki-Sekki ringed training clearing. After a moments' pause, he mused, "Hmm… We could work on combining hollow and Shinigami techniques, like using kido while using the mask, or shooting Cero from one hand and kido from the other."

"**Tsk. So all we get to do is watch ya blow stuff up? Bo-ring**," Shiro complained, swinging his zanpakuto around idly. "**And what did ya ask us for, anyway? You answered your own question!**"

"Quiet," Ichigo halfheartedly rebuked, rolling his eyes. "I suppose we could do a free-for-all later…"

Shiro grinned excitedly. "**Well, hurry up and finish your annoying kido stuff so we can fight and put the techniques we've learned to good use, instead of just practicing on dummies!**"

"_It would do you good to work on these things as well, Shiro,_" Zangetsu pointed out while creating his human-shaped zanpakuto dummies.

"Hy-po-crite," Ichigo enunciated, smirking. "What happened to your preaching of, 'you can't just train yourself; you have to train your sword, too'? And you do count as one, since I'm using a zanpakuto manifested from your power."

Shiro's response was an annoyed, close-range Cero shot in Ichigo's direction. "**That doesn't count! Neither Zangetsu nor I are kido-type weapons!**" The instant the words had left Shiro's mouth, he realized that he had dug himself into a hole.

"_While that may be true, the Getsuga Tensho relies on the same kind of reiatsu control as kido to bring out its maximum potential. Why do you think that we were working on shooting off Getsuga Tensho at different strengths last week?_" Zangetsu innocently pointed out using the opening that Shiro had created, eliciting an annoyed huff from the Arrancar and laughter from Ichigo.

* * *

"Kurosaki's reiatsu trail is this way…"

"Are you sure, Sentaro? All my senses are leading me _that _way!"

"Don't argue with me, Kiyone! The captain values _my _skills in reiatsu tracking much more than he values yours!"

"Oh, yeah? The captain told me that I'm ten times better at tracking than you!"

"Liar! The captain would never say something-"

A cold female voice cut through Kiyone's and Sentaro's bickering. "What are you two idiots doing here?" They looked up to see one of the members of the 8th squad looking at them coolly down the bridge of her nose.

Kiyone stared at the raven-haired woman blankly. "Who are you?"

"Fifth seat of the eighth squad, Nanao Ise," she said, adjusting her glasses. "I have been tracking freshman Ichigo Kurosaki as per the request of my captain. You two are getting in the way."

"Hey, we're looking for Kurosaki, too!" Sentaro exclaimed. "We could team up and find him together!"

"I don't 'team up' with fools," Nanao said coldly.

"Hey, you're just a fifth seat," Sentaro growled, a vein popping in his forehead. "We're _both_ fourth seats, and we call rank! We are teaming up!"

Nanao's dark blue eyes flashed angrily. "If you insist," she said through gritted teeth.

"Is it just me, or is she channeling her inner Captain Soi Fon?" Kiyone whispered.

Nanao twitched, but pointed eastward. "The trail leads this way," she said simply before running off and leaving Sentaro and Kiyone with no choice but to follow her.

* * *

"Has our delivery boy dropped off his package yet?" a snake-like voice asked.

"We need to wait just a little longer. Be patient, Gin," and oily voice said. All of a sudden, alarms started blaring throughout the Seireitei.

"Perfect timing," Gin grinned, fingering his zanpakuto. "Shall we collect now, Captain Aizen?"

"You and I will be needed to 'guard' the Seireitei. Kaname is already on his way," the traitorous captain smirked.

* * *

The bloodthirsty member of the 11th squad grinned nastily as a dark tear appeared in the sky – a Garganta, leading to Hueco Mundo. Low-level hollows started streaming through the hole, which were dispatched with relative ease. Larger hollows then started appearing, intermingled with the weak ones, and the Shinigami began to sustain damage. In almost no time at all, the Garganta had become gigantic, and Gillian had started appearing as well.

The Shinigami's grin only grew wider. He had no doubt that he'd die, but, as promised, he'd have the fight of his life. "For the glory of Captain Zaraki!" he roared, zanpakuto at the ready, before jumping into the fray.

* * *

Ukitake jumped as the alarms went off in the Seireitei. "Emergency! Emergency! Gillian have broken into the Soul Society! Repeat, Gillian have broken into Soul Society!" Ukitake immediately rushed out and began mobilizing his squad. In a time like this, it was the job of the 13th squad captain to provide backup for the squads who went on the frontlines, which cycled regularly between multiple squads. This time, the 7th and 9th squads would go out to destroy the Menos.

"I hope Kaien, Kiyone, and Sentaro will be alright," he murmured as his squad moved into standby position, unaware that his best friend was thinking the same thing about his subordinate.

* * *

Computers whirred as the scientists of the 12th division worked frantically to coordinate the counterattack against the hollows. Some barked orders furiously into headsets, while others typed in a frenzy, reconfiguring the sensors set up all over the Soul Society to try to pinpoint the cause behind the breach and predict where any future breaches might occur.

"Status report! Exactly thirteen Gillian and numerous other hollows have besieged the 76th district of North Rukongai! Captains Komamura and Tousen will lead the offensive in three minutes, thirty-six seconds and counting!"

Akon fiddled with an oddly shaped contraption on the control panel of the sensors. "What are you doing, Akon?" one of the other scientists barked as statistics and graphs flashed across the screens that showed incoming data from the sensors, momentarily blocking precious data. The data soon returned to normal, but a long printout of numbers started emerging from a large, grotesquely shaped machine stored in the corner of the room. Akon snatched the paper, glancing over it quickly.

"A level seven hollow bait was used!" he announced over the din. After a quick checking of the data Akon had obtained, which proved that Akon's hypothesis was accurate enough, the scientists returned to their previous engagements.

"There's another breach forming in the forests outside of the 1st district of North Rukongai!" Hiyosu called out, typing swiftly to input the data Akon had obtained.

"How is that possible?" one of the new grunts cried while hastily delivering a large stack of data to the recently created lieutenant, Nemu Kurotsuchi.

"Level seven hollow bait is strong enough to disperse throughout the dimension between Hueco Mundo and the Soul Society. Menos were attracted to the large amounts of bait that had settled near the membrane that separates that dimension and the 1st district of North Rukongai!" Rin explained quickly before stuffing some candy in his mouth while sending a computerized message to the speakers located throughout the Seireitei for emergency, wide-scale transmissions.

"Dispatch a group of high-level Shinigami to the forests of the 1st district of North Rukongai immediately! Gillian have breached the Soul Society again!"

* * *

_G r a a a a a a a a h h h h h h o o o o o o o h h h h h !_

Ichigo, Shiro, and Zangetsu whirled toward the source of the faint hollow's roar and beheld multiple Gillian in the far distance.

"How did Gillian get into the Soul Society?" Ichigo gasped as one charged up a Cero and shot it at an unseen target. "We've got to go help those people!" Shiro and Zangetsu simultaneously disappeared into his inner world. Ichigo prepared himself to shunpo to the Menos, but froze as he heard the familiar sound of tearing. A Garganta appeared in the middle of the forest, revealing a few Menos. Ichigo grabbed Zangetsu's hilt and fired a Getsuga Tensh o, cleaving one of the Gillian's masks in half. The rest responded by wailing and firing Ceros in random directions. Someone's reiatsu spiked momentarily in defense before dying back down when the Gillian started advancing on the source, since all hollows were attracted to reiatsu.

**What are people doing out here? **Shiro gaped.

_Never mind that; we just need to get to whoever that is! _Ichigo shunpoed toward the source of the voice, ignoring the blast of reiatsu that hit him as he passed the Sekki-Sekki barrier.

* * *

Ukitake blurred through the forest, disturbing the tranquility that had been present moments before. Shunsui raced beside him, mirroring his urgency. Their subordinates were in the middle of a warzone in which they would most likely be killed. There was no way that a group of seated officers and a single lieutenant would be able to defeat a group of Gillian by themselves without sustaining serious injuries. While it was highly unorthodox for two captains to go in alone, a large group of weaker Shinigami traveling with them would likely only make the situation worse.

A spike of hollow reiatsu pulsed through the air, causing the captains to subtly change their course to get to its source quickly.

_Damned hollows_, the captain thought. _Why choose now to attack the Soul Society?

* * *

_

"What are all these Gillian doing here?" Kiyone gaped, eyes wide as she stared at the behemoths that had suddenly appeared from the officers' hiding place: under a log. They'd taken cover as soon as the Gillian had appeared, knowing that they were no match for the group of powerful hollows.

"Quiet!" Nanao hissed shakily. "You'll only lead them this way!" As if on cue, one of the Gillian turned in their direction and started powering up a Cero. Out of the blue, a blast of white light cut through its mask and destroyed it, causing the other Menos to react in their typical manner: aimlessly shooting Ceros at whatever moved. Kiyone whimpered when one impacted with the ground only a few feet away, her reiatsu unconsciously spiking in response to the threat. The Gillian began moaning and advancing toward their position, attracted to the reiatsu they'd felt.

* * *

Kaien switched from running to shunpo as soon as the first Menos Grande appeared through the Garganta. Why had Kiyone and Sentaro decided to bail duty _now_, of all times? They wouldn't be able to fend off the group of Gillian by themselves!

In quick succession, a white blast of light destroyed one of the Menos, the rest of the group panicked and fired Ceros, and someone's reiatsu flared. Kaien spurred himself to go faster.

* * *

Ichigo leaped into the sky and let loose another Getsuga Tensho, destroying another Gillian.

_I'm not fast enough! At this rate, I won't be able to destroy them all before they get to whoever's down there! _An idea suddenly hitting him, Ichigo materialized the inversed Zangetsu and swung both of them in different directions at once, bellowing, "Getsuga Tensho!" Two crescents of energy sprang from the blades and, although weaker, did their job and destroyed two of the horde.

The Gillian moaned as one and destroyed more of the forest. Slight pinpricks of panicked reiatsu caught Ichigo's attention, and he shunpoed down to ground level from his perch in the air. He peeked under a fallen log and saw Kiyone, Sentaro, and a future lieutenant cowering under it.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in disbelief. Anyone with a reiatsu level below a lieutenant's would be grievously injured fighting even a single Gillian. Three seated officers fighting a group of them would leave all three Shinigami dead.

"We should be asking you that question," the future lieutenant said shakily, nonplussed by the situation she'd landed herself in.

"Look out! It's gonna fire another Cero!" Sentaro warned urgently. Ichigo whirled around. Sure enough, a Gillian was charging an energy beam aimed in their direction.

"Blast it!" Ichigo hissed.

* * *

"Look out! It's gonna fire another Cero!" Sentaro's familiar voice cut through the forest.

_I'm almost there! _Kaien thought. He emerged from the forest and just in time to behold Kiyone, Sentaro, a member of the 8th squad, and Kurosaki right before the Gillian fired the Cero.

* * *

_Like hell I'm gonna let them die! _Ichigo mentally snarled as he planted Shiro's zanpakuto in the ground and held Zangetsu in an overhead block. The fired Cero impacted with Zangetsu not a moment later. Ichigo poured energy into the blade to hold it firm and prevent any of the attack from reaching those behind him. Snarling fiercely, Ichigo raised his reiatsu high enough to overpower the Cero and retaliate with a Getsuga Tensho. Zangetsu cut through the Cero like a hot knife through butter, and the released Getsuga Tensho cleaved the Gillian's mask in two.

* * *

Four Shinigami, three of the 13th squad and one of the 8th squad, stared at what should have been just a very talented freshman at the Academy with jaws dropped to the ground. Various exclamations filled the air simultaneously.

"W-what the hell?"

"I can't believe my own eyes."

"Th-that shouldn't be possible!"

"Lieutenant! You're here! Did you see that?"

All four of them jumped when Kurosaki took to the air and destroyed the remaining two Gillian with far more ease than a supposed freshman should have displayed. Kiyone and Sentaro crawled out from under the log as Kurosaki landed on the ground.

"Kurosaki, you…"

* * *

Ukitake and Kyoraku watched in surprise as a single figure decimated the whole group of Gillian, a feat only possible of a captain-level Shinigami. After a few more shunpo, they silently landed in the branches of a tree to watch the proceedings of the group of lower-ranking Shinigami in front of them. Apparently, it had been _Kurosaki_ who had destroyed all the Menos. Ignoring the question concerning his power levels, what had he been doing out in the forest?

"Well, isn't he impressive?" Kyoraku murmured, eyes fixated on the Academy student. After examining the freshman for a few moments, he commented, "The kid's really stiff and nervous; almost looks he wants to run. I wonder what made him so flighty…" Ukitake couldn't help but agree. Honestly, it was as if Kurosaki expected to be punished for defeating the Menos that could have taken the lives of his subordinates…

* * *

Ichigo stiffened under the questioning gazes of the four Shinigami in front of him. **Shoulda just left em, King. Now things are even more screwed up...**

_I couldn't have just left them to die!_

Shiro sighed. **You idiot! They'll never let this go! What happened to training at the Academy to round out and polish our skills, skills that we desperately need? At this rate, you'll be locked up or killed, and then we'll never defeat Aizen!**

"Bakudo 63: Sajo Sabaku!"

"Hey! What-" Ichigo spluttered, straining against the golden ropes holding him in place and glaring at Kaien, who had released the kido.

Shiro groaned, **Told ya.**

"Stay here. Won't you just listen? Or at least talk to us?" Kaien beseeched.

Ichigo glared at the lieutenant as he tried to break the kido by raising his reiatsu. It had certainly worked on Rukia's kido, even though he hadn't realized what he had been doing at the time. The seated officers flinched as his reiatsu pressed down upon them.

"Kurosaki." Ichigo's head snapped up and he made eye contact with the female future lieutenant, but he began to feel drowsy the instant his eyes met hers. The world darkened, and he could have sworn he saw flower petals falling around her head.

**She's trying to knock you out!**

Ichigo let his reiatsu rage, wiping away the effects of the narcotic kido and breaking some of the golden chains holding him captive. The other Shinigami, even Kaien, struggled to catch their breath as Ichigo released reiatsu comparable to a mid-level captain's. Abruptly, something crashed down on his head from behind, which normally wouldn't have been too much of a problem, considering the cloak of reiatsu protecting him, but whatever had assaulted him had been reinforced with a lot of reiatsu, immediately causing his vision to fade to black.

* * *

Kyoraku caught Kurosaki before he could hit the ground, careful to keep Katen Kyokotsu's blade from accidentally cutting the unconscious student. Jushiro breezed past him, fussing over his lieutenant and fourth seats that, while admittedly pale, seemed to be just fine. Hefting Kurosaki onto his shoulder and sheathing the larger of Katen Kyokotsu's blades, he sauntered over to his fifth-seat and checked Nanao-chan over for injuries. She seemed to be in the same state as the others – shaken, but otherwise just fine.

"I'm alright, captain," she said unnecessarily, shying away from him.

"But I have to make sure that my Nanao-chan wasn't hurt," he pouted. "The Gillian and Kurosaki looked pretty scary to me…"

"I'm not your 'Nanao-chan'!" she snapped before falling back to a more professional tone. "Kurosaki killed all of the Gillian, and he did little more than intimidate us after Lieutenant Shiba bound him in a bakudo. I'm sure you're aware of this, captain."

"Mmhm," he confirmed, having witnessed the incident. Content that Nanao-chan was safe for the moment, he turned and lazily called, "Jushiro! Other Shinigami will be by soon! We should leave."

Jushiro gave a nod of approval and motioned for his subordinates to go on ahead. Kyoraku signaled that Nanao-chan should follow. Jushiro patiently waited while Kyoraku picked up Kurosaki's large blade from where it had stuck in the ground when he'd dropped it. Seemingly without any outside stimulus, the ribbon hanging from the end of the hilt lengthened and wrapped itself around blade. Figuring that the zanpakuto was sheathed, Kyoraku tossed it to Jushiro and jumped over to its inversely colored counterpart a few feet away. Before he could pick it up, though, it abruptly vanished. Kyoraku stared at the place it had been for a few seconds, eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Interesting…" He and Jushiro shunpoed away minutes before the other Shinigami arrived to complete the cleanup of the area.

* * *

Tousen let his senses spiral outward, barely keeping the disgust and haughtiness he felt off his face. Numerous souls with little spiritual power cowered behind doorways or under debris in desperate attempts to remain safe. Tousen inwardly snorted. As if the flimsy structures they hid in would provide even a modicum of protection against a group of hollows or a Menos.

When Tousen felt the hollows seconds away, he signaled for the Shinigami running behind him to split up into the groups they'd been assigned to prior to the hollow infiltration. He kept running alone, citing that his shikai's attacks were widespread enough for his subordinates to come under friendly fire, but his true purpose was to capture some of the high-level hollows that had breached the Soul Society for experimentation. That was the reason behind Aizen's motivations for providing the lower-rank Shinigami with hollow bait, after all.

As he and his subordinates engaged the hollows in combat, Tousen could feel Komamura skirting the group to attack from behind, pinning the hollows between two groups of Shinigami and preventing the hollows from escaping to the sides, where Shinigami could easily target them with kido and other long-range attacks.

Tousen shunpoed through the ranks of the hollows, slicing through the ones he deemed too weak to be of any use and tagging the ones he felt had enough reiatsu with slips of paper that would transport them into holding cells in Aizen's personal labs. They would disappear in a way that gave the illusion that they'd been killed, thus keeping those fighting with Tousen ignorant of his true mission.

In short order, the hollows were driven off, killed, or captured, leaving Tousen with the task of organizing clean-up. There were many injured Shinigami and normal souls, and the surrounding area had been decimated. Ceros from panicking Gillian had a lot to do with the devastation, but Tousen honestly believed that Komamura unleashing his bankai had been a destructive overkill…

* * *

Ichigo shot up, panting. "What happened? I know that I was knocked out..." He looked around cautiously. He was lying on a traditional futon in a mid-sized room that smelled strongly of flowers. The wooden shutters on the numerous circular windows were closed, and little light shone through the cracks.

"Hey, you're awake!" Ichigo noticed a figure lounging in the gloom. He couldn't make out the face or any other revealing features, but the somewhat familiar voice was a deep, husky male's.

The door to the room opened, and light spilled in through the opening, though the rest of the room, including the figure, was still cast in shadow. "Welcome back," Ukitake said, stepping in and smiling. Ichigo watched the captain warily while surreptitiously looking around for Zangetsu. The zanpakuto spirit was sitting docilely in his inner world, but the materialized blade had vanished.

"Where am I? How long was I out?" Ichigo queried softly as he smoothly stood to his feet, tense and battle-ready.

"Now, now." Ukitake was still smiling, and his tone of voice was friendly. He waved his hands in a _calm down _gesture. "No need for hostility. You're at the Ugendo, my family's home. I rest here when I'm ill." A pause. "You've been out for a few hours."

"The Menos… What happened to the Gillian? Was anyone hurt?"

The shadowy figure seemed to pout. "C'mon, relax! There's no need to be so anxious…"

Ukitake, fortunately, provided Ichigo with an answer. "The 7th and 9th squads killed the ones that appeared in Rukongai. There were multiple deaths and injuries – there's one Academy student and multiple full-fledged Shinigami who were in the area at the time and are now in critical condition – but overall, there were fewer casualties than I would have expected from a breach this large."

"And then you took care of all of the other Gillian quite impressively," the other figure added. "Hey, Jushiro, can we open the shutters? There's no one around, and it's so dark and stuffy…"

"Sure."

Ichigo carefully watched the Shinigami's movements. His demeanor screamed, "unthreatening," but he knew that many Shinigami were masters at hiding their true intentions.

Ukitake caught Ichigo's distrustful demeanor. "You should relax," he asserted. "I would never intentionally try to harm someone who protects my subordinates, especially someone with motives like yours."

Light flooded the room as the figure threw open a pair of shutters. "I agree with Jushiro."

Ichigo gaped as the figure was illuminated for the first time. "You're… a captain…" Indeed, the bottom of a haori peeked out from underneath a trashy pink kimono.

"I don't think we've ever been properly introduced." The captain turned around, revealing his features to Ichigo. "I am Shunsui Kyoraku, captain of the 8th division."

After a few moments of gaping silently at him, Ichigo carefully examined the captain, comparing the man he saw before him to the fuzzy memory he had from his weeklong recovery in the Soul Society after Aizen's escape to Hueco Mundo.

Swallowing his initial reaction to blurt that Kyoraku had been the captain to capture Chad, Ichigo instead replied neutrally, "Well, it's nice to meet you." Pause. "Where's Zangetsu?" he asked, abruptly steering the conversation in a different direction.

"You mean this behemoth?" Kyoraku said lazily, a hand drifting over to rest on a shape that was shrouded in the shadows provided by the wall. Straining his eyes, Ichigo could barely make out Zangetsu's silhouette; a quick confirmation from the zanpakuto spirit in his head established that Kyoraku was indicating to Ichigo's blade.

Ichigo walked over and gripped the loop made by the ribbon connecting the handle to Zangetsu's "sheath". After noting that neither captain had made a move to stop him, he willed the blade to disappear, wondering where Shiro's zanpakuto went.

"Your other zanpakuto disappeared before we could get it," Ukitake explained, prompting Ichigo to raise an eyebrow.

/_Shiro thought it best that they not have the chance to closely examine his blade._/ Zangetsu rumbled. Ichigo saw the logic in the Arrancar's decision.

After removing Zangetsu's blade from the outer world (a decision that had both captains raising their eyebrows in confusion), he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, wincing as he came across a painful bump. "Thanks for bringing me back here," he said, finally trusting the captains enough to relax. "Did you happen to catch whoever knocked me out?"

Kyoraku chuckled sheepishly. "Well…"

Ichigo caught the guilty expression. "It was you, wasn't it?" he glared.

"Well, you were scaring our subordinates, and you seemed partial to running… What made you so skittish, anyway? You don't strike me as the type to run when push comes to shove." Kyoraku smoothly redirected Ichigo's attention, though the Academy student didn't see fit to provide him with an answer immediately.

"…I suppose it's because of the situation I've landed myself in," the freshman said vaguely, though both Kyoraku and Ukitake had the feeling that there was so much more to his answer than just the reference to his identity as one of Urahara's experiments.

After a few minutes of silence from all parties, Ichigo ventured, "Will you let me leave to go back to the Academy?"

Ukitake shrugged. "Sure," he acquiesced, ignoring a startled look from Kyoraku. "Well," he revised, "one question. Are your power levels the results of Urahara's experiments?"

"No. He trained me to see what I could do after the experiments, but my reiatsu level was already like this when he used me as a lab rat." It was partially true, even though the only "experiment" Ichigo had gone through was the whole business of getting his Shinigami powers back after Byakuya destroyed his Soul Chain and Soul Sleeve, and he'd had enormous amounts of reiatsu even before that.

Ukitake nodded, internalizing his words. "Thanks for satisfying my curiosity," he smiled before opening the door and pointing in a seemingly random direction. "The Academy is that way. Try not to run into any other Shinigami between here and there, okay?"

Ichigo nodded and prepared to run in the direction that had been indicated when Kyoraku reached out and grabbed his arm. "And, Kurosaki," he said seriously, "Thank you for rescuing our subordinates. If you need a favor, just tell us. It's the least we can do."

Ichigo studied the pair for a moment before breaking into the first genuine grin that they'd seen. "Alright… thanks." Without another word, he vanished in a flicker of shunpo.

"He's an interesting kid," Kyoraku idly said, leaning against the wall of the Ugendo.

A few moments passed before the two moved, calmly beginning to walk back to their posts in the Seireitei. They both paused when they felt an approaching, familiar reiatsu signature. "Captain!" Kaien called as he flickered into view. "Is Kurosaki awake yet?"

"He already left, actually," Ukitake informed him. "Sorry you didn't get to speak with him," he added as his lieutenant's expression darkened.

Kaien sighed. "Eh, it's fine. I'll probably see him later, anyway." Pause. "By the way, captain, there's a stack of paperwork waiting for you back at the office, probably from the aftermath of the breach."

Kyoraku couldn't help but snicker as his best friend froze, his expression one of pure horror.

* * *

In the present…

"…And that's the whole story. Urahara's only miscalculation was that there were no miscalculations. Everything proceeded as he had predicted, right down to the worst possible outcome."

Only silence could be heard on the other side of the phone. There was a slight crackle over the line as Jushiro finally answered.

"You've… given us a lot to digest…"

A sudden rise in reiatsu informed Shinji that he had a rather pissed-off adversary, flying atop the building that Shinji had taken refuge on with her gleaming zanpakuto in hand.

"Hang on. I gotta deal with Hiyori." Still holding the phone to his ear, Shinji began dodging the former lieutenant's stabs, which, he noticed, were aimed mostly at the Soul Pager.

"I haven't seen you this distraught since our awakening from Aizen's experiments," Shinji idly commented, knowing that his words would inflame her even more. True to form, her reiatsu flared, and Shinji flipped off the roof and onto a platform in the air made of gathered reishi to avoid her lightning-fast strikes.

"Why don't you get it, Shinji?" she hissed venomously.

Shinji watched her expressionlessly. Though she may have put up the façade that she was hardened and resolved, she was truthfully very insecure.

-_Flashback-_

"_I… hate humans," Hiyori said, ceasing to struggle in Shinji's arms as he flew back to their hideout after their confrontation with Chad and Orihime._

"_I know."_

"_I hate Shinigami, too."_

"_I know…"_

_-End flashback-_

"Hiyori," Shinji began in a placating tone. "We'll run into Shinigami when we confront Aizen. Best to confront their questions now, rather than in the middle of a battle, or some other inopportune moment. Am I right?"

Hiyori leveled one of her signature hellfire glares at him, but she stopped attacking, so Shinji supposed it was progress. "Just because they might work with us until Aizen's dead doesn't mean they'll accept us, for something we have no control over," she spat bitterly, her hollow mask forming over her head to prove a point. Giving him one final swing to dodge, she leaped off the building and sped off in the opposite direction.

Shinji was already moving to chase after her, since he'd usually have to be the one to snap her out of her brooding, but he stopped when he heard the sound of a strangled whimper reached his ears, carried by the wind. Hiyori never took kindly to anyone seeing her at her most vulnerable.

"…She still hasn't quite recovered from the betrayal and our exile, has she?" Shinji murmured to himself, knowing that, while more than a century old, Hiyori still had the mental age of a child.

The Soul Pager in his hand crackled to life. "Er, Hirako-san?"

Shinji put the phone to his ear again. "Yes?"

"Is everything alright over there?"

"Oh, yeah, everything's fine. Is there anything else you two want, or can I give Hitsugaya back his Soul Pager?" Shinji asked, recalling the name of the captain whose phone he was using.

"Well, stay close… we'll want to contact you again about possible plans to defeat Aizen." The phone line abruptly went dead, making Shinji believe that either the 12th squad had disconnected the call prematurely or the Soul Pager in his hand was dead, since it simply wasn't Ukitake's or Kyoraku's style to hang up so suddenly.

Shinji stared up at the sky for a few moments before sighing and flying back to the warehouse. Once there, he returned the Soul Pager to its proper owner, who by that time had been thoroughly scarred by Mashiro's antics and insistence that the captain's hair was a wonderful thing to mess with. After saving Hitsugaya from a fate filled with ribbons and hairbrushes, he shooed both his guests, human and Shinigami, away, confident that the captain would be able to ensure Orihime's safety for enough time for backup to arrive should there be another Arrancar attack.

Shinji was just grateful that the other Vizards didn't pry about the contents of the chat he'd had with his old friends or pester Hiyori when she finally returned to the warehouse.

* * *

In the past…

After successfully avoiding several Shinigami patrols, Ichigo jumped over the walls of the Academy and sped to his dorm room, planning on changing his uniform (which was almost disgustingly dirty) and generally preparing himself for interactions with the younger versions of his friends. He needed a certain mindset to deal with them, since they weren't exactly as he remembered and he needed to be careful to keep from blurting out some reference to an event that hadn't happened yet, and he didn't have that mindset at the moment.

The short shower he took when he was back in his dorm helped clear Ichigo's head. Noting that it was about time for the Academy's dinner, he jumped out the window and headed to the cafeteria. After getting his food, he headed outside and found his group of friends sitting outside in their usual spot. Oddly enough, Momo and Kaede were missing; they were usually the first to get their food.

_Must be visiting Toshiro,_ Ichigo mused. The two often visited the white-haired boy on their days off, despite his protests that he didn't want to see them.

"Hey, Ichigo! You're back early today!" Renji called, used to Ichigo's disappearances on Sundays.

"Idiot!" Rukia snapped. "Of course he'd be back early! Don't you know about the Gillian attack?"

"Oh… right…"

Ichigo kept quiet as the two began arguing, Izuru adding in the occasional comment. It felt surreal to be sitting there, talking as if he hadn't taken out a group of Gillian and talked with two captains only hours before.

A rapidly approaching figure caught Ichigo's eye. When the figure got close enough, he realized that it was Momo. She looked disheveled and absolutely miserable; tears streaked her normally happy face.

Izuru noticed her next. "What's wrong, Momo?" he asked worriedly, standing and hurrying to her side. She leaned against him and buried her face in his chest, sobbing. He froze, stiff as a board and blushing heavily, but then snapped out of his momentary daze and wrapped his arms around her in a comforting gesture. "What's wrong?" he repeated while Ichigo, Renji, and Rukia crowded around the pair.

"I-it's Kaede," she choked out. "We v-visited Shiro-chan for a l-little while a-and then she said she w-wanted to go see her f-friends back in the higher d-districts and then the G-gillian attacked and she was h-hurt—"

Ichigo felt as if a pit had dropped open from under his feet as he recalled Ukitake's words. _"…there's one Academy student and multiple full-fledged Shinigami who were in the area at the time and are now in critical condition…" _Judging from Momo's words, Kaede was the Academy student who had been caught in the Gillian attack.

Ichigo spent the remainder of the day comforting Momo, even though it was obvious to the rest of his friends that he was just as distraught as they were. As he clambered into his bed, numb, he berated himself for not being there, even though logically there was nothing he could have done.

Right before he fell asleep, he heard Zangetsu say, /_It was a choice between Kaede and the other Shinigami. You did the right thing, given the situation. Don't let this weigh you down, Ichigo._/

* * *

A few days later, Momo and her friends got permission to visit the comatose Kaede in the fourth squad's barracks, lamenting that it was their friend that had been so grievously injured. She'd suffered severe head trauma as well as some internal damage, never mind the minor cuts and scrapes she'd received from being buried under rubble.

Momo and her friends stood silently over Kaede's bed, solemnly praying that their friend would recover. She clenched her fists angrily. _Kaede… I swear I'll get stronger to prevent anything like this from happening again…_

Little did she know that the others at her side were thinking the exact same thing.

* * *

Time passed. Kaede showed no signs of waking up, but her friends recovered from the emotional damage of seeing a friend so close to death, clinging to the hope that she would eventually awaken from the coma she'd slipped into. Life was still the same, from the rigor of the training to the craziness that came with being one of the most ragtag groups of friends within the Academy. No one higher than a fifteenth seat visited the Academy in that time or bothered Ichigo, which he found to be a relief. Everything was back to normal, save for the hole that Kaede left.

* * *

"Are you sure that's a side kick, Izuru?" Renji asked skeptically.

"Of course! It's just like sensei showed us!" Izuru demonstrated the basic hakuda technique, twisting and powerfully thrusting his foot to the side.

"No, you're supposed to turn your hip more, like this!" Renji kicked high above his head. "Right, Ichigo?"

"It doesn't matter, as long as it works and you don't break any of your own bones when you impact with your opponent," Ichigo mumbled from his position on the ground. That Sunday's training session had been _intense_, and Ichigo was trying to recover from multiple Shiro-inflicted injuries. The Arrancar was purposefully keeping the wounds open to prolong the healing process—Shiro had said that it was a good test of endurance.

"He's still doing it wrong," Renji grumbled, kicking again. Abruptly, while he was off-balance, he was pushed from behind. "Yaah!" he screeched while crashing into Izuru. The two of them landed on Ichigo.

"That hurt!" Ichigo complained, the holes in his abdomen complaining loudly at the weight. "Get off! Izuru, stop kicking me! And Renji, GET YOUR SMELLY FEET OUT OF MY FACE!"

The three disentangled themselves to the sound of female laughter. "Rukia! What was that for?" Renji griped.

"Who knows? And who cares?" Ichigo growled dangerously, glaring at his raven-haired friend. "Dogpile!" Rukia's laughter turned to a shriek as she was tackled to the ground. Renji caught on and leapt on top of Ichigo, dragging Izuru behind him.

"Get... off... not... breathing..." Rukia gasped.

Ichigo heard the crunch of footsteps on the grass. "Do I even want to know?" Momo wondered, staring at the pile. Then she shrugged and sat on top of Izuru, who turned bright red. She flipped open one of her textbooks and began reading, heedless of the people under her.

She idly wondered if this was how Kaede would have reacted in this situation.

"Guys, I think we should get off. Rukia's turning blue," Renji wheezed. Momo jumped off the pile and hooked onto Izuru's arm, dragging him with her. Renji and Ichigo rolled off Rukia, and she weakly flopped onto her stomach, coughing and gasping for breath.

"Ichigo... you bastard..." she coughed, weakly smacking him.

"That's what you get for knocking Renji and Izuru into me," he panted, a hand over his stomach. _Damn... wound's reopened..._

Momo paled as her gaze fell onto Ichigo's crimson-stained uniform. "Ichigo, you're bleeding."

"What? Ichigo, what have you been doing?" Izuru wondered, peering at the steadily darkening stain.

"I just tripped and fell on some stones while training. That's all!" Ichigo insisted, even though he knew his excuse was utterly see-through.

"That's a lot of blood for just falling on some rocks," Renji commented, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

"If he's bleeding, shouldn't we bandage it and get him to the infirmary?"

"Oh, no. I am NOT going to the infirmary!"

"What can we bandage him with?"

"His clothes! Take off your top, Ichigo!"

"NO WAY! Get the hell away from me!"

**Tsk. They're just worried about ya, King. Hold still!**

"Let go of me, Renji!" _Dammit, Shiro! Don't seize up my muscles so I can't move!_

"Stop struggling! You're losing a lot of blood! Izuru, hold his arm!"

"I'll get the other one!"

"Dammit, Rukia! Let go!"

"Vengeance is mine!"

Finally, the four managed to expose the stolen bandages underneath Ichigo's clothes. Ichigo panted heavily. His arms were pinned by Izuru and Rukia, and Renji had a firm grip on his legs. Momo was sitting beside him and deftly undoing the soiled cloth.

"Ichigo... what happened to you? There are _holes_ in your stomach – you shouldn't be able to move!"

"Just rocks, huh?" Renji raised an eyebrow.

"I've had worse." The four tending to him looked at each other worriedly. "I'll be fine, guys! Really!"

"Shouldn't you at least go to the infirmary?"

"_NO. _I told you, I'm fine!"

"Can you at least tell us what happened?"

No one noticed the mischievous gleam that suddenly entered Ichigo's eyes. "I ran into something the size of a bear with terrible reiatsu and a spiky head..."

Elsewhere, a certain bloodthirsty captain sneezed and looked around in annoyance before coming to the conclusion that someone powerful and worthy of his challenge was talking about him. He ran off to find this foe… in the opposite direction of the Academy.

* * *

"Are those two fighting again?" Momo groaned as she sat down at a cafeteria table, a tray of food in hand.

"Yeah," Izuru sighed, glancing at Renji and Ichigo. "I don't even know what they're arguing about anymore..."

"It'll burn itself out eventually. It always does," Rukia said dismissively while chomping on a piece of beef.

_Splat!_

"Sorry. My finger slipped," Renji grinned. The sauce from the boiled dumpling dripped down Ichigo's neck, while the dumpling itself peeled from his forehead and fell to the table with a wet slap.

"Is that so?" He deftly picked up a bowl of rice and smashed it into Renji's face, who retaliated by grabbing a fistful of vegetables and stuffing them down Ichigo's uniform.

"It's degenerated into a food fight. Shouldn't we stop them?" Momo asked dryly.

A stray onigiri landed in Rukia's hair. "Cut it out!" she snapped, and then upended her plate onto Ichigo.

"And now it's spreading..." Momo sighed as Izuru entered the fray. She yelped when she realized that Izuru had a fist in her uniform and was dragging her with him.

More stray food flew through the air and landed on some upperclassmen. "Food fight!" one of them cried gleefully and smashed a Western hamburger into his friend's face. Despite the teachers' best efforts, the conflict spread throughout the cafeteria.

"This is not the proper way for Shinigami-in-training to be acting," one of the seniors grumbled from his shelter under the table as he watched food, drink, and condiment fly through the air.

After a few minutes, the teachers finally managed to quell the disturbance. Food covered the cafeteria from floor to ceiling. Several disgruntled people left the cafeteria, wiping various vittles from themselves. Renji, Rukia, Izuru, Momo, and Ichigo staggered out of the cafeteria, covered in food and laughing hysterically.

* * *

"Ye lord! Mask of flesh and blood, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hado 31, Shakkaho Red Flame Cannon!"

A small red ball sped from Rukia's outstretched hands and impacted with a dull thump with a tree trunk. Once the smoke cleared from the burned wood, she saw that the spell had barely left any mark.

"Rukia, you're supposed to be better than me at kido!" Ichigo complained, approaching her from behind.

"Gah! Ichigo, don't sneak up on me like that!" Rukia exclaimed, whirling around. "And what you do mean, that I'm supposed to be better at kido than you? You're in the advanced class!"

"Nothing," he replied, wincing at his slip-up.

* * *

In the present…

Hachi wiped sweat from his brow, marveling at the small, innocuous-looking stone sitting in the palm of his massive hand. "It's complete," he said in awe. "Shinji?"

"Mm?"

"Tell everyone that it's complete. We'll be able to retrieve Ichigo!"

Shinji walked over from the couch he'd been lounging on and peered at the stone. "That's it? It's smaller than I expected…"

"Well, according to Urahara's plans, it activates when a complex array of kido spells is drawn around it and reiatsu is poured in at various points in the array. It works best at certain times of the month."

Shinji blinked at him a couple of times. "…So you're saying that we have to wait until this certain time occurs?"

"Precisely. We'll be able to activate it in five days."

Shinji was silent for a moment, searching his memory for anything significant occurring in the specified amount of time. "…That's the night of the full moon…" Hachi nodded. After a few moments' pause, the blonde Vizard continued, "I'll go tell everyone else. It'll certainly cheer Hiyori up, since she's still pissed from when that captain accidentally visited…"

* * *

In the past…

Six months had passed since Ichigo and his friends had started training at the Academy. It was chilly; orange-brown leaves fell from the trees in flurries every time a gust of arctic wind blew past. Despite the frigid weather, it was very dry; no snow had yet fallen due to the lack of humidity. Most students sought to study or work out indoors, though some preferred to do vigorous endurance training outside.

On one such day, when the sun was shining brightly but it was especially cold, prompting a greater number of students to stay inside than usual, Rukia was staring out of one of the windows, her gaze distant. Footsteps echoed behind her, approaching, but she ignored them – until someone planted a foot in her behind.

"Waaah!" she screamed, whirling around and glaring at her assailant, Renji, while holding her hands protectively over her abused rear. "Hey! What was _that_ for?"

"What the hell are you spacing out for? You've been here for six months, and you still haven't started taking your training seriously," he said, deadpan.

"Oh, yeah? Well, who are you to – hm?" She broke off, noting the presence of bento and an asauchi wrapped in cloth – a requirement of the Academy so that naked swords would not be carelessly used in the hallways – on his person. Rukia then noticed a small group of other freshmen behind Renji, carrying the same things as him, and including Izuru and Ichigo, who were watching the confrontation quietly.

"You look like you're going someplace," she noted hesitantly. "Are you guys having field training or something today?"

"Yeah. We're going to the world of the living for a practice fight against dummy hollows," he answered proudly.

Rukia's eyes widened with shock, which quickly turned to jealousy. "That's not fair! Why is it only _your _class? Not to mention that you shouldn't be in the advanced class in the first place!" she screamed, stomping up and down and wildly waving her finger in Renji's direction.

"What can I say? They recognize talent when they see it," he rebuked.

"Ugh," Rukia growled, her eyebrow was twitching angrily.

"And just you wait," Renji taunted, turning and beginning to walk away with the rest of the group. "I'm better than you already! And when I come back, there won't even be any comparison between us!" He waved without slowing his pace or turning back to look at her.

Ichigo glanced backward when Rukia yelled defiantly, "Yeah? Well, when you come back, I'm gonna be –" Her voice abruptly dropped several decibels. "Oh, I don't know…" She looked so lost by the time she fell silent.

Ichigo quickly assessed the differences between the two Rukias he knew. This Rukia was brash, bold, and completely unafraid to shout her feelings to the world, even to the point where she was extremely whiny. The future Rukia, on the other hand, was more reserved, especially around those she was not intimately familiar with and the Kuchiki family. Though she was very forthcoming around her friends, she lacked the audacity that the past Rukia had. The two also differed in resolve; this Rukia only sought to better herself when the situation demanded it, such as necessary training for her future career, while the future Rukia sought to gain strength to protect something precious to her, not just training at the absolute minimum for the sake of satisfying her needs.

Shaking himself from his thoughts, Ichigo approached Rukia, nostalgically reminiscing of his first days as a Shinigami. _I can never repay her enough for what she's done for me, even though I almost died rescuing her from the Sougyoku…_

"Hey, Rukia?" She looked up, still looking somewhat disheartened. "Do you want training?"

A fire relit in her eyes. "I'm not so low that I'd have to accept help from _you _to improve!"

Ichigo grinned before turning and walking away, hand held up in a wave. "Well, the offer's open. Tell me if you need help."

As he turned the corner and out of sight, Rukia reflected, _You know, getting some zanjutsu tips from him might not be a bad idea…

* * *

_

The freshman advanced students stood in a large, clustered group atop the roof of the main Academy building in front of three upperclassmen, fidgeting and chattering restlessly. A closed Senkaimon stood behind the upperclassmen.

The instant one of the upperclassmen began speaking, the large group of freshmen fell silent. "First, allow us to introduce ourselves. I'm Shuhei Hisagi, senior." Ichigo studied him closely; he looked somewhat familiar… Ichigo became somewhat annoyed; he'd been struck with multiple feelings of déjà-vu lately because of all the younger counterparts of people he knew roaming around, and it drove him nuts trying to figure out who they were and where he'd seen them.

"I'm Kanisawa," a short, brown-haired upperclassman said, the strict look on her face quelling any thought of weakness stemming from her petite stature.

"I'm Aoga." The male student on Hisagi's other side, in contrast, was burly in stature and would have fit in perfectly with the 11th squad judging from looks alone.

"The three of us will be your guides for this exercise," Hisagi concluded. Amazed murmurs broke out amongst the students.

"What's up? Why are they all gawking? Are they famous or something?" Renji observed, bending to whisper in Izuru's ear.

The other boy whipped around. "How do you not know? The one in the middle – everybody knows who _he _is." Renji turned his gaze to the indicated upperclassman, observing his stern expression and the tattoo on his cheek. "Shuhei Hisagi. He's the first in years to be assigned a post in the Gotei 13 before graduation, and they say that he's a really promising candidate for a ranked seat in the future."

"Huh. No kidding."

A sly look of haughtiness appeared on Izuru's face. "Strangely enough, he also failed the Academy's entrance exam two times. And, given that my exam score was the highest in our class, I might do better than him," he said, sounding pleased.

Renji looked skeptical. "Oh?"

Ichigo, who had only been somewhat paying attention to the conversation since he'd been trying to remember where he'd seen Hisagi in the future, and wondering when he'd get the three scars on the side of his face, elbowed Izuru. "Don't get a big head. Exam scores have nothing to do with reiatsu level, battle prowess, or improvement, which are what the Gotei 13 value the most."

The two friends at his side looked at him, one in surprise and the other in annoyance, but any rebuttal he may have received was cut off by Kanisawa. "Now, listen up! Split up into groups of three and get ready to go. Everyone, take out the lots you drew when we first assembled, and then find the two students who have the same mark as you have."

The freshmen began shifting around, trying to find the others they were grouped with. Ichigo glanced at his, a sakura blossom, and quickly looked around to see that no one near him had the same mark. Vaguely, he heard his friends – who had skulls on their lots – conversing behind him.

"Ah, so that's what these little pieces of paper were for."

"You and I are together, but... who's our third?"

"Hey, guys!" Momo called, running up to her friends. "I'm your third," she said, flashing a slip of paper with a skull to the other two.

"Hello, Momo. Where've you been?" Izuru greeted.

"I was caught at the back of the crowd. I couldn't move forward to get to you. In fact, I could barely hear our orders."

"Well, that's all well and good, but I can't find my group," Ichigo frowned, scanning the crowd for freshmen who weren't in groups of three yet.

"Kurosaki," someone said stiffly, tapping him from behind on the shoulder. "You're with us."

"Oh, it's you. Hello, Asukai," Renji said sullenly, saving Ichigo the trouble of identifying his teammate.

Ichigo glanced back and saw the stuck-up noble and a black-haired boy staring at him with equal amounts of disdain. He sighed, "See you at the end of the exercise," and shifted to stand with his other two teammates.

When the freshmen stopped moving around, Hisagi took this as his cue to say, "Alright. Now that everyone's found their groups, we'll brief you on today's exercise."

"Sixth-year students have already entered the world of the living and constructed a temporary barrier," Kanisawa explained.

"Once inside that perimeter, each group will engage in practice combat with dummy hollows," Aoga continued.

"The sixth-year students are here only to create a combat-ready environment for you. They will not assist in the combat itself. Are we clear?" Hisagi finished. Hearing no complaints, he ordered, "Then let's go."

"Yes, sir!" came a chorus a voices.

Hisagi turned to the Senkaimon, commanding, "Open!"

* * *

...Was the really long chapter enough to make up for the six month hiatus?

Okay, it probably wasn't, and I apologize for leaving you all dangling for so long. I won't give you any excuses, since I doubt you all want to hear me all ramble about my life, but I am extremely sorry for letting TT get so neglected.

Happy New Years' to you all. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

-HM


	30. Vanish Again

It's still 2011, right? ... 2012? ... Guh. Okay. I don't know how many of you are still following this (winces), but finally _finally FINALLY _I've got this chapter done. I don't know how many of you are still following this, but... thank you for your continued support, PMs, reviews, and pokes to get me to this point.

Ichigo gets sent to the past by a contraption he stumbles across in Urahara's basement, landing him thirty years in the past. He stumbles across Renji and Rukia, and he decides to enroll in the Shinigami Academy with them. Somewhere in the craziness of adjusting to his classes, visiting captains (Aizen and Ukitake - by extension, Kaien), nosy teachers (Hokkaido), and annoying inner hollows-turned-Arrancar (Shiro), he gains the animosity of Sentaro, who gets Kiyone to help him stalk Ichigo on his day off. They and a couple of others get caught in a Gillian attack orchestrated by Aizen and Ichigo saves them, earning the respect and friendship of Ukitake and Kyoraku. Since hollows appear in two areas, Kaede gets put into a coma. Time passes. At six months, Ichigo and the rest of the advanced class prepare for an exercise in the world of the living.

In the present time, the Vizards are working on and have finished a device of some sort. Orihime was attacked by Arrancar and saved by Toshiro, Shinji, and Rosé; all three go back to the Vizards' warehouse, where Toshiro meets the Vizards and lends Shinji his Soul Pager. Shinji gives Ukitake and Kyoraku a detailed description of Aizen's experiment on them.

* * *

Chapter 30 – Vanish Again

As Ichigo stiffly passed through the Senkaimon, his eyes darted around warily. Though he knew that he was being guided by a hell butterfly and thus would not have to pass through the Dangai, his previous experiences with even the stabilized Senkaimon were not pleasant. It was hard to forget emerging from the gate a few hundred feet above Karakura Town.

Ichigo released an inaudible sigh of relief when he emerged in the world of the living safely on solid ground. Since he'd stuck to the edge of the group of freshmen because of his paranoia, he was able to examine his surroundings closely. The exercise would take place in an abandoned industrial district. The shapes of buildings stood out in the light provided by the full moon. Looking out farther, he could see the moonlight reflecting off of the waters of the sea, broken only by dilapidated docks.

Ichigo then looked up and stared at the bright moon, wondering when he'd be able to get back to the future. Sure, it had been nice for a few weeks to relax and simply train to prepare for the war, but keeping heavy secrets and juggling multiple sets of lies had become burdensome. The stress grated on his nerves, and, occasionally, he'd morbidly think that he'd already caused some sort of paradox and would be erased from existence in a heartbeat. Or that, when he finally _did _travel back, it would be too late for him to stop Aizen. Or that he wouldn't travel back at all and would have to wait for decades before he'd get a chance to kill the madman without being on the run from the Soul Society.

He'd already had to deal with the unpleasantness of _that _when he'd rescued Rukia. Somehow, he had a feeling he wouldn't survive very long without Hanataro or some other healer. High-speed regeneration could only do so much.

/_Focus on the here and now, Ichigo._/ Zangetsu gently chided. /_We can deal with things as they come._/

_Right, right._ Ichigo softly laid a hand over the front of his uniform, tracing the outline of a small lump in the fabric. The stone – the tiny, insignificant rock in Urahara's basement that had started this whole mess.

* * *

_Flashback_

_Safe within the confines of his dorm, Ichigo was free to fiddle with the stone and talk with his inner avatars without fear of interruption from annoyed teachers or worried friends._

_**We've tried everything and then some, **__Shiro grumbled. __**Any other bright ideas?**_

Well, it responded to some outside force a few months ago, _Ichigo replied, referring to the incident by the riverside before they'd entered the Academy. _What happened that night?

/Perhaps certain times or places affect it,/ _Zangetsu mused, closing his eyes to better picture the waterfront as he'd seen it through Ichigo's eyes. _/We were by a riverside, during a full moon, around midnight, I believe… The reishi present didn't feel like anything besides the Soul Society standard…/

You remember all that?

/No; I had to poke around a bit in the buildings that house all your memories. Think of it like I retrieved data from your memory banks, in computer terms./

_Deciding that it was mildly creepy that his zanpakuto could retrieve his memories like data from a hard drive before realizing that there was absolutely nothing Ichigo could do to stop him, Ichigo concluded, _We could visit the riverside on our next day off. Hopefully it will react somehow…

_Flashback end_

* * *

The stone had remained inert by the riverside, so Ichigo had taken to carrying it around with him, wary of any sign it would activate within the range of anyone else. It hadn't done anything except release a nearly nonexistent pulse of reiatsu on the nights of the full moon, however. He still carried it with him wherever he went, though, and was extremely careful to avoid losing it.

Zangetsu suddenly gave him a sharp mental swat, which snapped Ichigo's attention back to the real world. Hisagi's voice floated over the crowd, informing the students which sector each group had been assigned to, instructing them on how to activate the dummy hollows (which had been set up in each sector beforehand by the sixth years maintaining the barrier), and laying out some ground rules that had to be followed (such as not venturing outside the barrier and returning immediately to the rendezvous point once the dummy hollow had been defeated).

Ichigo fidgeted impatiently throughout the whole oration, eager to start the exercise. He knew that a dummy hollow would fight nothing like the real thing, but it had been months since he'd battled something that he'd been able to kill without repercussion. (The last time he'd done that to Shiro, the Arrancar had stabbed him the instant he'd found his way from the depths of Ichigo's soul and had been sulky, insufferable, irritable, and ruthless during sparring for weeks afterwards.) The Academy drills may have been helpful, but most of them had tended to be sleep-inducing in all but kido, reiatsu control, and healing.

Ichigo came to a screeching halt at his last fight-happy thoughts. Damn, Shiro was rubbing off on him more than he'd like to admit.

Kenpachi would be quite pleased once he'd returned.

The sound of someone clearing his throat caught his attention, and Ichigo met the unfriendly gaze of Asukai – _when in the world did things get so frosty between us, anyway? I thought we were on relatively good terms! – _who motioned for Ichigo to follow him. Asukai led their group away from the docks, in the exact opposite direction as Renji's group. They stopped near the edge of the barrier in an area that looked like it had been overrun with rusted piping. An inactivated dummy was perched on the roof of a nearby building.

The dummy hollow Ichigo's group would be facing looked somewhat like a lizard. Once it was activated, it scurried agilely along the walls and around the pipes, nimbly dodging the group's attacks and instead allowing them to collide with the network of pipes.

Ichigo mostly let Asukai and the black-haired boy deal with the dummy, since he knew that any attack he threw at the dummy would destroy it. Ichigo had been holding back for months in his classes, and it was _more _than wearing on his nerves. Sure, he'd gotten used to keeping a huge secret from his family, but a good number of the Shinigami-in-training were more alert and paranoid than his father and sisters. The constant stress was tiresome.

Besides, the other two needed the experience of the exercise, and they weren't really in any danger. The dummy hollow couldn't attack back; the whole purpose of the exercise was to get used to attacking an agile enemy in the low-energy environment of the world of the living.

Ichigo felt Zangetsu's approval of his decision. His wielder had grown less hotheaded over the months – understandably, since Ichigo had had so much pressure from—

Ichigo, in annoyance, gave his zanpakuto a mental whack for the brief distraction.

A red Shakkaho flew past Ichigo's ear, colliding with the pipes ahead as the dummy hollow scuttled away unharmed. "Hey! Watch it!" Ichigo yelled at Asukai, who had nearly hit him with the hado.

The noble griped in return, "You're _supposed _to be helping us, Kurosaki, not standing to the side and twiddling your thumbs!"

Less hotheaded he might be normally, but he would not take a challenge like that lying down. "You want my help?" Ichigo snapped. "Fine!" He unsheathed his asauchi and easily wound his way through the maze of pipes toward the dummy. It was nimble, but Ichigo was even more so; and besides, its movements were predictable and simple to keep up with. Compared to the normal hollows he faced, destroying the dummy was child's play.

Ichigo turned to his teammates after the dummy had exploded to find them gaping at him in shock and consternation. "You asked for help," he shrugged, grabbing their uniforms and dragging them with him. "Let's go back."

"But— You—" Asukai spluttered before jerking away from Ichigo. "Don't touch me!"

Ichigo scowled. "What's your problem?" His response was a glare and an insulted snort. The trio headed to the rendezvous point in stony silence. Asukai was at the head of the group, and he was so tense Ichigo almost expected him to freeze up from a full-body affliction of cramps.

_Jeez, why in the world has Asukai gotten so cold? Maybe it was because I forgot his name, _Ichigo mused. _He was civil in class until a few weeks ago…_

Meanwhile, the noble striding in front of the time-traveler was silently brooding about his classmate's skills. He'd made an offhand comment about Kurosaki to his family one day, and after a few weeks, they'd started hounding him to outperform the other freshman. As a member of a noble family – even a minor one – it was an embarrassment for a commoner to outdo him. His expression darkened as he thought back to some of the cutting remarks he'd received from his family members:

_Why do you let trash from the Rukongai show you up, Ryota?_

_You dishonor your clan with your failures._

_You'll never be able to restore glory to our clan with _that _kind of skill!_

_I don't _care _how much more powerful this Kurosaki is than everyone else! You're currently the _only _noble in his class – he shouldn't be _that _hard to outdo!_

Asukai glanced back at the one who'd recently become his goal unknowingly. He was dragging his heels, slouching slightly, and basically acting like any ignorant commoner would. Asukai suddenly felt insulted by the other's nonchalance. He turned ahead again to prevent himself from doing anything stupid, like provoking Kurosaki physically or verbally. He had to keep his decorum up to standard, no matter how infuriated he became.

While Asukai was stewing, a small pulse of reiatsu floated to Ichigo's senses. He paid no attention to it until identical pulses reached him, increasing steadily in frequency and power. It didn't take him long to find the source: the reiatsu was coming from within his shihakusho—the stone.

Kurosaki's posture suddenly went rigid, and Asukai, who was surreptitiously observing him again, had to wonder what had caused the other freshman's reaction. He could neither see nor sense what Kurosaki was reacting to.

Meanwhile, Ichigo reached into his shihakusho and drew the stone to where he could see it but was still concealed from anyone else's eyes by the fabric. The precaution soon wouldn't matter, as the stone was glowing ever so slightly, and with each passing moment, its reiatsu became more noticeable.

_Shit_, he swore. _I need to get out of here. _He glanced at his team members. It wouldn't be long before they noticed the stone's reiatsu.

Ichigo was never one for subtlety, so he grabbed Asukai's shoulder and, ignoring the noble's flinch and disgusted glare, said, "I'll be back; tell the 6th years I'll return soon, alright?"

"Kurosaki, where could you possibly be going?" Asukai snapped, but Ichigo darted away from him before he'd finished, far too fast for the other freshman to follow. Once he was out of their sight, he switched from running to shunpo to put distance between himself and the rest of the freshmen (some of whom were still spread in their groups, and it was difficult to evade them all to obtain solitude).

Finally, he hid away in a niche on the roof of one of the buildings, reasonably far from any other Academy students but still within the barrier. Those holding the barrier would notice it being breached, after all. Hopefully. He didn't want anything to go wrong with the exercise and ruin it for the rest of the students.

Ichigo brought the stone out from his shihakusho and examined it. It was flashing in time with the waves of reiatsu it was emitting and had gotten warmer than what could be passed off as body heat. Ichigo could feel his inner spirits watching it silently and intently through his eyes.

Suddenly, the stone sparked, causing Ichigo to almost drop it. Its reiatsu strengthened and the flashes of light increased in intensity until the stone was constantly emitting a soft golden glow. The stone threw off more sparks, which hung in the air instead of dissipating, glittering like miniature fireworks.

Ichigo watched the stone with trepidation. He had no idea what had caused it to react so suddenly, nor did he know what was happening with it, but he wasn't about to drop it. There was a possibility that it was preparing to transport him back to his own time, but his cynical side pointed out that something else was probably happening, as there hadn't been nearly as much fanfare when he'd been dropped decades into the past.

The stone pulsated once more, and the small motes of light coalesced into a shining whirlpool. It condensed to the size of a ping pong ball and hovered motionlessly for a moment before it expanded again. Part of the glowing mass dripped down to the stone in Ichigo's palm to form a tether, while the rest of the light molded into a recognizable shape. The tones of gold changed, sharpened, and shifted so that Ichigo was staring at a humanoid figure with its feet planted firmly on the stone.

Static suddenly hissed at Ichigo, though he couldn't tell if it was from the stone or the light above it. He almost wasn't surprised—the stone had done some rather strange things (notably, the time travel) by his standard (which had plummeted very low over the course of everything that had happened to him since he'd gained his Shinigami powers months ago). However, he couldn't help but gape when he caught a few discernible words through the static.

"—frequency—change—try—kido—through—Ichi—"

Ichigo stared dumbly at the stone. He was almost _positive _he'd heard the beginning of his name through the white noise. "Okay, this thing is creeping me out," he muttered to himself.

**You and me both, King. I wish it would **_**do **_**something**, Shiro agreed.

"Aha!" Ichigo jumped; that word had been a lot clearer with almost no distortion. "Got it!"

The figure shifted again, its features sharpening into focus. Ichigo felt his jaw drop. He vaguely heard similarly shocked exclamations and curses from Shiro.

"Hello there, Kurosaki-san! It's been awhile. I'm kinda surprised you're still in one piece!"

Ichigo struggled to respond. His jaw flapped uselessly for a few moments before he managed, "_Urahara?!_"

* * *

Asukai stalked back to the rendezvous point, seething at the absent Kurosaki. _Why _did the commoner feel the need to order a noble such as himself around? Why would he…

Asukai tried to think more negative thoughts about Kurosaki, but he found it somewhat difficult. Kurosaki was the reason why he was catching heat from his family—the most important thing in the world to him—but he was also the only one who treated him like a normal person, neither pressuring him like his family nor watching him with reverence. Kurosaki had never shown him any more respect than he'd earned, the same as everyone else he interacted with. It was a refreshing change.

Asukai mentally slapped himself. His family mattered above all else, he reminded himself. Camaraderie with a commoner was unacceptable.

As Asukai reached the rendezvous point, his dislike of the plebian grew. All it took was a few reminders to quash his momentary weakness.

_Now, where is he…? _Asukai wondered, closing his eyes and slipping into a semi-meditative state. He wasn't the greatest reiatsu sensor, but he'd worked hard to improve. Nobles were required to be well-rounded in all aspects of the Shinigami world.

Asukai felt the crowd around him—most everyone had returned and there were only a few stragglers, he noted—but Kurosaki wasn't in the immediate area. He stretched his senses and felt the last group to finish approaching. Asukai was pretty sure they were Kurosaki's closest friends, but the distance made it hard to tell. He forced his senses further, up to his limit, but he only caught vague snatches of Kurosaki's lingering reiatsu. The commoner himself was nowhere to be found. He was too far away.

Asukai sighed. _Kurosaki, where in the world did you run off to?_

* * *

As Ichigo continued to stare at the shopkeeper in shock, Urahara flipped open his perpetually-present fan and said cheerily, "Yep!" He maintained his casual, lighthearted disposure for a moment before sobering, his posture straightening and his expression turning serious. Before he could say anything more, though, he was rather loudly interrupted.

In all the months Ichigo had been a Substitute Shinigami, he'd learned to take the weird and unexplainable in stride. However, the half-year spent with immature versions of his friends with the burden of a huge secret on his shoulders had somewhat weakened his emotional control around those he implicitly trusted.

"What the _hell?!_" Ichigo spluttered. "How – why—?!"

"Kurosaki." Ichigo knew that tone of voice. It was Urahara's "shut up and listen to me otherwise we'll be in a heap of trouble" voice. Wisely, Ichigo found the rusty reins on his emotions and forced himself to calm down and focus.

"As you've undoubtedly noticed, you're sometime in the past. A few decades, by my calculations. You've been there for about half a year, correct?"

"Yes, Urahara. Get to the point."

"Alright." Urahara cringed. "My device was somewhat incomplete when you stumbled across it—"

"_Incomplete?!_" Ichigo repeated in disbelief. "You must be joking. If you're telling me you can't get me back—"

"I'm not saying that. Just listen. Currently, my device can traverse time, but it can't be activated unless certain environmental conditions are met—reishi in the atmosphere, gravity, and so on. I tinkered with it right before you left, so it was able to perform its function by relying heavily on your ridiculous reiatsu without some of the other conditions, but something happened to it mid-transit. Something got knocked out or a loose end tried to affect something it shouldn't have. I'd tell you exactly what happened, but that's about all I can get from reading its dock here."

It took Ichigo a moment to process all the new information. Urahara's explanation left more questions than answers. "Dock…?"

"Of course. Did you think I'd create a time-travelling device without having something to ground it in this time in case something went wrong?"

Ichigo saw the projection twitch, but brushed it off as interference. Even Urahara _probably_ wouldn't be that reckless. "I suppose not… So, how can you get me back?"

"Well, since all the primary connections have been established between the dock and the vessel, we can trigger the process to bring you back. The whole point of this chat was to prepare the vessel for a time leap."

Ichigo blinked in surprise. "Really?"

"Yep! Half of the work was finding the right frequency of reishi that could connect with the vessel in your time – it probably took a while for my image to appear from the vessel's reishi, right? Besides that, Tessai's been making minute adjustments to the kido for greater precision while your friends have been providing the necessary reiatsu. All you need to do at this point is channel your reiatsu into the stone. So… ready to come home, Kurosaki?"

Ichigo blinked. "Just like that?" It seemed rather anticlimactic. "Wait… won't there be any paradoxes?" He'd been here for months, after all; he'd undoubtedly changed a lot.

Urahara waved his fan. "Indeed, just like that! And don't worry about the paradoxes; I've got them covered." Somehow, Ichigo didn't find that reassuring. "But we have to start up the process now, otherwise we'll have to wait another month for us – six months for you – for the conditions to be right again."

"Six _months?_ I am _not_ staying here that long! Just get this thing started, then!"

"Alright, you should—"

Urahara suddenly looked alarmed, which was the only warning Ichigo got before Urahara's image jerked and the golden reishi composing his figure swirled chaotically. His proportions distorted, alternately shriveling and ballooning. "Kuro—inter—bilize—"

"Urahara? Urahara! Dammit, don't disappear on me now!" Ichigo shouted at the stone, not caring if anyone heard him. "I need to get home, dammit!"

The golden reishi broke apart, and Ichigo feared that it would disappear along with his chances for getting home for another six months, when the reishi drew itself back together and reformed back into a distinct human figure.

A figure that was most certainly _not _Urahara.

Ichigo gave up trying to figure out what was happening. "Hi, Shinji. How are you doing?"

* * *

Kurosaki's friends had almost gotten back to the rendezvous point, but the commoner himself was still conspicuously absent from both sight and sense. _He'll be left here if he takes too long doing whatever he ran off to do, _Asukai thought, torn between vindictive gratification and grudging worry. Wrapped as he was within his own thoughts, he didn't notice a slight commotion among the upperclassmen overseeing the exercise.

He did, however, notice the loud, strangled scream. He glanced around, annoyed at whoever felt the need to make such a horribly distracting noise—

Asukai blanched, all irritation forgotten. A huge monster (_hollow_, his subconscious helpfully supplied) towered over the group. It was easily comparable to a demon even from a glance: bulging muscles, sinister horns atop a grotesque head, pointy wings—

And complete with a sixth year impaled upon the spike that topped the hollow's arm.

Asukai _froze._ He couldn't feel the monster's reiatsu, but the hollow nonetheless exuded a palpable menace that locked all movement and thought. He was nothing more than a tiny deer caught in the headlights of a demonic truck.

The hollow carelessly swung its gigantic limb, dislodging the obviously dead form of the upperclassman. One of the surviving sixth years charged with a furious scream but met the same fate as his classmate. Asukai was so numb that the shock of the second death didn't register.

The sole remaining sixth year shouted, "Freshmen, get out of here! Run as far as you can!" The younger students hardly needed to be told twice, peeling away as soon as they mustered the strength to flee, despite the horror they'd just witnessed. Asukai only unfroze when one of his classmates crashed into him. He registered the presence of Kurosaki's friends simply because they hadn't yet turned and run, making themselves into obstacles everyone else, including Asukai, had to dodge.

As he distanced himself from the danger, Asukai's panic receded from overwhelmingly prominent to peripheral. His mind whirled through many half-formed thoughts: the dead upperclassmen, the terrifying hollow, the running students, Kurosaki's disappearance. _He's probably been eaten; no wonder he didn't come back_, Asukai conjectured miserably, too frazzled to search for the other freshman's reiatsu.

He couldn't run any longer; his strength had left, despite the adrenaline. He hid inside one of the buildings in a tangle of dilapidated machinery for shelter and was joined by a group of other exhausted freshmen. He didn't really care; now that he could think clearly, he could only think of how much more _real _this was than anything he'd been exposed to at the Academy.

People hadn't died in the classrooms, for one.

And until all the scattered freshmen were rounded up by the fully-fledged Shinigami backups, Asukai grimly reflected upon the risks of being a Shinigami (in the real world, only strength mattered; his lineage meant nothing) and mourned the death of the upperclassmen and Kurosaki.

* * *

Shinji gave Ichigo his best toothy grin, its unsettling nature enhanced by the golden tones the stone employed to fabricate the image. "Hey, you're not dead!"

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Nice to see you too. Where did Urahara go?"

The number of Shinji's teeth showing decreased. "Urahara?" he repeated. "Crap. Hang on a sec." He leaned over, consulting with someone Ichigo couldn't see. His voice was low and fuzzed with interference, as if he were talking on a phone held a foot away from his mouth with a TV making white noise in the background.

Ichigo waited patiently for about a minute before Shinji returned his attention to the time traveler. "Well, seems we've got ourselves something of a problem – hey, wait a—!"

The reishi figure once again disintegrated, and the disjointed particles swirled chaotically before reforming into Urahara's frame. This time, his form wasn't nearly as detailed, and Ichigo only caught a distorted, "Interference—need more reiatsu—" before the golden reishi melted altogether, forming a glowing coat around the stone. Ichigo stared at it numbly for a few moments, waiting for something to happen. When nothing did, he took a deep breath to calm his nerves – he had to try something; he _wasn't _staying here for another six months, and Shiro and Zangetsu loudly agreed – before focusing his reiatsu—

There was a large shadow looming over him.

Ichigo leaped into the sky on instinct, and not a moment too soon: a massive hand slammed down where he'd been standing, connected to a gargantuan hollow. The hollow was efficiently dealt with by a Shakkaho that was stronger and more unstable than strictly necessary and shot from the palm of the hand that wasn't clutching the stone tightly.

He landed on the roof of a nearby building and frowned. Even though his ability to sense reiatsu was crude by most standards (despite the fact that he'd been working on it for the past six months), he _should _have been able to feel the hollow approaching, especially given its size. He closed his eyes, stretched his senses… but felt nothing remotely similar to hollow reiatsu.

He did hear a loud roar, though, that was unmistakably a hollow's.

_Something's definitely wrong_, he thought as he hurried in the direction of the noise by means of the rooftops, feeling his inner spirits shift at the promise of a battle. His worry spiked as he noted other freshmen fleeing in a chaotic manner beneath him. _Shit, the rendezvous point! _He sped from running to shunpo and adjusted his course accordingly. In a matter of seconds, he reached his destination and did a quick survey of the area, flinching at the couple of obviously dead bodies and at the conspicuous lack of the offending hollow.

He shut his eyes and focused again, this time searching for the strongest source of reiatsu apart from himself; hollows were attracted to sources with high reiatsu. Even for him, it was east to identify Renji's, Momo's, and Izuru's signatures not far from his location, along with a fourth, stronger signature. Their group and Ichigo himself would stand out like beacons to the hollow, shouting, "_We're right here; come eat us and absorb our energy!_"

There was _no way _Ichigo would risk his friends' lives for the sake of taking down a hollow solo, so he shunpoed to their position. The final member of the group, the sixth year—Hisagi—looked at him in disbelief.

"Are you crazy? What are you doing here? Why did you come back?" he demanded harshly, echoed by Renji's slightly hysterical "You stupid idiot!" and Momo's frantic "Do you have any self-preservation instincts, Ichigo?!"

Ichigo stubbornly replied, "You need all the backup you can get. Don't complain!"

The others quieted, though he did see Hisagi shoot him a disbelieving glance, probably because of the calm, almost nonchalant, tone he'd used. He noted that the right side of the sixth year's face was coated in blood. He couldn't quite make out the facial injuries, but if he had to guess, they were the source of the scars Ichigo was familiar with in the future.

The five turned into a larger area in the maze, but they quickly stopped, as the air in front of them shimmered as if they were in the middle of a heat wave.

"Hey… what the _hell_? Why is everything getting blurry?" Hisagi wondered aloud in worried confusion, his tone wavering.

_Great,_ Ichigo mentally groaned as small Gargantas opened in the air all around the group and spit out a ring of menacingly large hollows, all of which had the almost nonexistent reiatsu signature of a spiritual being concealing its power. The Academy students formed in a tight circle in response, Hisagi tightly gripping his sword in a traditional kendo style; Ichigo preferring the style he'd part learned, part developed during his training; and Renji, Momo, and Izuru laxly holding their swords at their sides.

_We can't wait any longer for backup,_ Ichigo mentally snarled as Izuru started loudly panicking next to him.

**Assuming any has been called, **Shiro added grimly.

_They'll all die if I don't do something, then._

Zangetsu whispered a suggestion in his ear.

And Ichigo trusted his zanpakuto with his life.

He darted out of formation, shouting, "Rend the heavens, Zangetsu!"

* * *

There was a blinding flash of white light, followed by a shout of "Getsuga Tensho!" and an explosion. Shuhei couldn't help but freeze when his currently limited vision recovered and he could survey the battlefield, despite that he _thought _he'd trained enough to avoid such crippling hesitation during battle.

Almost all of the hollows in front of him had been wiped out. The source of the devastation stood a few feet in front of him, hefting a stupidly large sword and oozing enough reiatsu to make breathing difficult.

_There is _no way _this is happening_, Shuhei thought distantly. The practical tactician in him happily whispered about increased chances of survival while the overwhelmingly dominant part in denial swamped him with incoherent splutters of _shikai, reiatsu, hollows, freshman, what the _fuck_?!_

_He _had shikai—he was the only student at the Academy that currently _had _a shikai—but he hadn't released it, in part because his increased reiatsu would draw more hollows (_a useless precaution now_, a fragment of him snarked), in part because he couldn't use it all that well yet (despite that he'd had it for months), and in part because it and its potential terrified him.

To find that a _freshman _both had a shikai and was wielding it with more mastery than he could at the moment was both an unpleasant shock and a metaphorical kick in the ass to _get over his fear and learn to use me already!_

Even though part of the thought came from Kazeshini, Shuhei couldn't agree more, for once.

In the few seconds all this information had taken to process, the freshman (Ichigo, Shuhei remembered from his friend snapping at him earlier) had wiped out a few more hollows, moving faster than he could follow.

"Did you know about this?" he demanded of the other freshmen while keeping his eyes on the remaining hollows, which now seemed less interested in the four still stationary on the ground.

"N-no," the girl stuttered, while the blond who had been screaming earlier let out a concurring squeak.

A hollow, deducing that its chances of getting a meal were larger by attacking the four stationary students in formation instead of the blur that was easily taking down its comrades, slashed at the group with a talon. Shuhei readied a defense, but instead of being hit with a jarring impact, he and the others were sprayed by hollow blood from the now-detached limb sailing over their heads.

Shuhei wasn't sure how much longer the incredibly one-sided battle lasted. When Ichigo stilled for the final time and all of the hollows taken care of, it was a struggle to wipe the look of awe and shock from his face and replace it with something a bit more stern and appropriate of a superior officer. Shuhei wasn't quite sure if he'd succeeded or not.

It was a good thing the clapping began. Otherwise, Shuhei wasn't sure what he would have done, even though, given Ichigo's sheepish expression, the powerful freshman was obviously approachable.

"Impressive," someone complimented before stepping into view, followed by the source of the clapping. "That was _quite _the display."

Shuhei couldn't help but gasp, "Captain Aizen… and Lieutenant Ichimaru!"

* * *

Ichigo couldn't believe it. After all of his caution these past few months (okay, his attempts at secret-keeping _had _been clumsy at the beginning, but he'd learned from his mistakes with Hokkaido and Kaede and hadn't really had any slip-ups since), _Aizen _of all people showed up to clean up the disastrous exercise. His treacherous lieutenant was still applauding, raising Ichigo's suspicions that they'd been there the whole time and hadn't bothered to interfere with the show. Though Aizen wore a genial expression and his eyes roamed comfortingly over all the students, Ichigo would have _sworn _the man's voice held a hint of predatory glee in the compliment. Both Shiro and Zangetsu tensed for a confrontation in Ichigo's inner world, the Arrancar a bit more vocally than the zanpakuto.

Ichigo could have cared less how "impressive" the man found his "display." As Aizen approached the frozen group, the sound of his sandals on concrete reminded Ichigo to move. He held Zangetsu in a defensive position and retreated backward as Aizen stepped forward.

Aizen seemed unperturbed by his reaction, moving to comfort the other students and excuse Ichigo's behavior. "People can act strangely on the post-battle adrenaline rush," he reassured, patting Momo on the head comfortingly.

Ichigo just tightened his grip on his sword.

Aizen outwardly turned his attention to Ichigo, though Ichigo was certain that his focus had been on him the entire time. The captain murmured something to his lieutenant, who remained by the other students as he approached a twitchy Ichigo.

"I won't bite, you know," the murderer called reassuringly. "Far from it, in fact. Saving your comrades is nothing to be ashamed of."

Ichigo sorely wished to cut the man to pieces, but he knew he was unprepared for a fight against both the powerful traitor and his right-hand man, even with his training. Plus, Aizen had hostages. Unwitting hostages – the average person would see the decision to leave Ichimaru with the traumatized students to be a reassurance and a balm. Ichigo saw his friends within arm's reach of a manipulative serpent who could kill the four hapless students in under a second should he deem fit (in other words, if Ichigo made any threatening moves).

He couldn't attack; he couldn't flee – he didn't trust Aizen unsupervised with his friends _at all_ – he could just dance in a circle. He was going to do something rash and stupid if this kept up much longer—

"Hey, I didn't know Squad Five had gotten here already to clean up this mess!"

—but fortunately, he didn't get to that point.

Aizen was apparently the only one not shocked into speechlessness. "Squad Thirteen's Captain Ukitake and Lieutenant Shiba. What a surprise."

Ukitake rubbed the back of his head, the very picture of apologetic. "Sorry; we heard the distress call and came running. We didn't know another squad had already come to answer the call for backup." His act would have been perfect had his lieutenant looked the least bit repentant. As it was, a hint of defiance and smugness flashed across Kaien's face before it was replaced by a neutral expression that only fooled the Academy freshmen who hadn't time traveled.

"We actually didn't really need to do anything. Ichigo here had it all under control," Gin clarified. Ichigo wasn't sure which was worse: the fact that the silver-haired traitor had known his name or the mocking way he'd purred the statement.

Ukitake's gaze landed on Zangetsu, no doubt remembering the incident with the Gillian. "I'm sure," he agreed easily. "Since it looks like things have been handled here and since this is officially your mission, why don't you go round up the other students? I'm sure they're all terrified and waiting for someone to pick them up," he suggested. "We can watch the students here."

Aizen's genial mask was firmly in place as he agreed. "Come along, Gin," he motioned, patting Momo consolingly on the head one last time before shunpoing away with his creepy lieutenant in tow.

The moment they were gone, Ukitake dropped the innocent act and strode over to Ichigo, heedless of the giant cleaver. "Ichigo," he chided. "You have to be more careful! We're lucky that Captain Aizen was the one to come and not someone else. He is really very nice; he'll not mention your involvement in the report if we ask him not to."

Ichigo, still shaken from Aizen's appearance, took a moment to respond after lowering his blade. "Uh, what?"

Kaien, who'd herded Renji, Momo, Izuru, and Shuhei to Ichigo's side, rolled his eyes. "We're covering for you, stupid. The captain's decided that you're coming straight to our squad after you graduate. We take care of our own, yeah?" He lowered his voice. "Especially one of our own who saves complete strangers. And besides, you're a protector, right? You can't do that if you're locked up in the 12th Squad's labs."

Ichigo blinked. He hadn't met the two high-ranking officers more than a handful of times between them both, and they still showed this much desire to shield him? Was this what people felt when he saved them, despite him not knowing a thing about them beforehand? "Thank you," he said sincerely, deeming the gratitude appropriate.

Kaien replied with a warm, friendly grin. "Don't mention it!" A second later, though, the smile faded, replaced with confusion. "What's that in your shihakusho?" he frowned, poking at Ichigo's chest.

_The stone! Shit! _Ichigo scrambled to withdraw the rock from his shihakusho. It was glowing brightly and radiating reiatsu. How had he have missed it?

/_You're horrible at sensing reiatsu when your focus is on something else,_/ Zangetsu offered.

_Rhetorical question! Distraction! Not helping! _Ichigo hissed back as golden particles spilled from the stone again, more in a rushing torrent than the fireworks the display had been last time.

"What _is _that?" Momo murmured. Her question was echoed by Izuru, who hadn't quite gotten over the shell-shock of the hollow attack yet. Renji stared at it with fascination and Shuhei with caution.

"It's a relevant question," Kaien prodded, watching the flowing spirit particles with suspicion.

"It's… complicated," Ichigo managed, knowing that either Urahara or Shinji would pop up in the next few moments and shoot everything straight to hell. "Really, _really _complicated."

"It's not that bad! Just a little kido and…" came a voice from the stone. Ichigo recognized it as Urahara's and mentally prepared for an onslaught of questions (or an attack from the 13th Squad's officers). "Hang on a sec; the visuals on this are touchy. Time's a tricky thing, Kurosaki-san!"

Renji looked at the stone as if it were about to eat him. "Ichigo, there's a rock talking to you."

The golden torrent, which had formed into a humanoid figure and was defining details by that point, slowed. "Kurosaki-san, there's someone with you." A pause. "Was that Abarai-san?"

Renji took several steps back, thoroughly creeped out.

"Hollow attack," Ichigo began at the same time Kaien announced, "This is Kaien Shiba, lieutenant of the 13th squad. State your name and purpose!"

The torrent almost oozed to a stop, though only halfway finished refining the details. Ichigo could clearly make out that Urahara had his hat pulled solemnly over his face. "My apologies, Shiba-san. To explain everything would take more time than I can allow for, so I'll just do my business with Kurosaki-san and leave you in peace, hm?"

"No," Ukitake interjected more roughly than Ichigo had thought the kind man capable of. "It may have been almost seventy years, but I do remember your voice well enough, Kisuke!"

There was a pause from the person controlling the stone. "Well, darn. Can't pull one over your eyes, can I, Ukitake-san?" The details on the figure finally finalized, and Urahara stared back from the stone. He turned to face Ukitake and waved. Ichigo was glad everyone's attention was on the eccentric shopkeeper and not him; he had an awful feeling that if they were looking at him, they'd be doing so with hurt, anger, confusion, or betrayal. Even though it wasn't entirely Ichigo's fault that he was involved with this whole time travel fiasco, he still felt terrible for lying to his friends. Zangetsu mentally put a hand on his shoulder, offering him silent support. Shiro skulked behind the zanpakuto, not caring to hide anymore.

"Um, who's that?" Izuru spoke up hesitantly.

"Kisuke Urahara, exile. He's a traitor to the Soul Society," Kaien answered darkly, shooting Ichigo an angry glare. Though Ichigo had been expecting it, he still flinched.

"Unfortunately so, but now I can safely say I was rather thoroughly framed!" Urahara grinned, hiding his unhappiness with a grin and a wave of his fan. "Like I said before, I'd explain, but I'm on a rather tight schedule. You wouldn't remember any of what I'd say, anyway!"

Ukitake and Kaien gripped their zanpakuto at the perceived threat. "Is that so?" the Shiba ground out.

"Yep! Now, I'm sorry, but I have to take Kurosaki-san back now!"

Everyone's attention was back on Ichigo. Kaien and Ukitake glowered at him with betrayal (he'd known enough of his situation to answer about the stone earlier, after all, and actively consorting with a convicted criminal made him one too), and Shuhei seemed to catch on that he was something of an enemy. On the other hand, Izuru, Momo, and Renji seemed to be realizing with horror that one of their best friends would be leaving, possibly forever.

"Wait!" Renji choked, shoving past his superior officers to grab Ichigo's shihakusho, heedless of Shuhei trying to hold him back. "Are you leaving?" Renji searched his friend's face and found his answer. Ichigo was horrible at hiding his emotions, after all. "Why?"

Ichigo couldn't bring himself to look Renji in the face anymore. "I can't stay. I don't belong here." And he abruptly found himself torn, because he _wanted _to stay here; he'd made a comfortable life for himself here and gained (or regained) some amazing friends. But then he remembered what he'd be leaving behind if he did so: his _life_ (he'd occasionally almost forgotten in this time that he still had a living body and high school to return to), all of his friends (where was Orihime when he needed cheering up, Ishida when he needed someone to argue with, Chad when he needed someone to watch his back?), his family (he'd never abandon them for the world), his responsibility to protect (Aizen was gunning for Karakura Town, and Ichigo would never forgive himself if he weren't there to protect everyone).

"Yeah, you do! And if you think—"

Kaien covered Renji's mouth before he could finish, effectively telling him to _shut up and stay silent because a superior officer is telling you to_. "Why?" the lieutenant asked, his voice hard, and Ichigo knew he was asking why he was here in the first place, not why he was abandoning them.

"Accident. I wasn't here to spy on you or do something nefarious otherwise." Ichigo forced himself to meet Kaien's accusatory gaze, hoping that the lieutenant would see the truth of his words in his eyes.

"And because Urahara-san can't store his equipment properly!" someone who was definitely _not _Urahara yelled from the stone. He couldn't tell who it was; the voice was too distorted.

More particles from the stone formed a hand that gripped Urahara's coat. The person attached to the hand pulled his head into view and roared in a voice that was now clearly undistorted, "Get your ass back here, Ichigo!" Though his words weren't easily discerned because Urahara shouted, "Please get back into your position!" at the same time, his face was easily recognizable.

"Renji?!" Momo choked, whirling between Renji and the image from the stone, even though Urahara had pried present Renji's fingers from his coat and he'd been pulled out of sight.

"W-was that _me_?!" Renji looked close to fainting.

"What is _going on_?" Izuru voiced the question everyone was thinking. The entire group had their eyes on Ichigo again, though the Academy students kept glancing at Renji.

"Kurosaki, please inject your reiatsu into the stone _now_!" Urahara urged.

That's right – Urahara had said no one would remember this, didn't he? "Time travel really sucks. I don't recommend it," Ichigo deadpanned to the people staring at him expectantly before pouring all the reiatsu into the stone that he could. Zangetsu and Shiro aided, no longer concerned with concealing their strength.

"Wait just a damn second—" Kaien lunged forward, eyes wide, but his fingers closed on empty air as Ichigo vanished in a flash of light.

* * *

There was a tiny oval in Kurosaki's place, and before Kaien could react, it impacted with the middle of his forehead. He didn't care; he had to know what the deal was with Ichigo—

Who was Ichigo?

Kaien stumbled back, his head feeling fuzzy, as though he'd spent a night in a cheap bar somewhere in the Rukongai. The disorientation lasted a moment before his senses sharpened again. His captain was gripping his shoulder, asking if he was alright and about something Ichi—

Captain Ukitake released Kaien when he met his eyes, shaking his head and rubbing his temples. He recovered quickly, though, and glanced around. "…Where are we?" Ukitake asked, scratching his head in confusion.

"Um, sir, you're in the world of the living," a feminine voice spoke up hesitantly. Kaien turned to the small girl next to him. The moment their eyes met, she took a half-step back, blinking rapidly.

A blond kid behind her stepped up. "Momo, are you alright?" He looked up at Kaien uncertainly before looking at his friend again. Blond froze for a moment before shaking his head.

"Sirs?" Kaien turned to an older Academy student who really needed some healing for his face. There wasn't any fresh blood, so whatever wound that had been inflicted to cause such a blood flow had to have already clotted. The kid really needed to clean up, though; the right side of his face and his right shoulder had been dyed red.

Kaien realized Bloody was waiting for permission to speak, so he gave it. "Sir, what about the time traveling that—" As soon as Bloody looked straight at him, he stopped talking and looked bewildered. "What was I saying?"

"I'm not sure," Kaien replied slowly. Bloody's words seemed to have slid from his memory, but for some reason, he didn't feel too worried about it.

"Guys!" A redhead whined, waving his arms around. "What's with you? What about Ichigo?"

"Ichigo?" Blond asked, his brow furrowing. "Who's Ichigo?"

"What do you mean, who's Ichigo?" Redhead snapped, grabbing his friend's shoulders. It looked like Redhead was about to shake Blond, but as soon as he glared into the other's eyes, his grip slackened. "Ichigo? Ichiro? Ishiro? Who was I talking about?"

The girl blinked. "I'm not sure," she admitted. "Are you feeling okay, Renji?"

"I'm fine," Redhead (_no, Renji, you need to stop the nicknaming habit, Kaien_) snapped.

At that moment, Captain Aizen arrived at the scene via shunpo, looking worried. "What happened? I just felt Kurosaki-san's reiatsu disappear!"

His captain approached the other, frowning. "Who are you talking about?"

Captain Aizen opened his mouth, appearing even more concerned, but then he shut it again. "I was talking about… who was I talking about?... no one." He seemed bewildered and lost for a moment before switching subjects. "What is Squad Thirteen doing here? Squad Five reported that we'd answer the distress call for this exercise."

"I'm… not sure," Captain Ukitake replied, sounding befuddled.

"Everything has been handled here," Captain Aizen replied calmly. "You can go back to the Soul Society, if you don't feel the need to stay here."

"That's fine." Captain Ukitake shook his head. "I'm sorry for butting in on this operation. I don't know what I was thinking…"

"Perhaps you should rest a bit?" Captain Aizen suggested concernedly.

His captain nodded. "Right. I'll leave you to your cleanup," he sighed. "Come on, Kaien. Let's go home."

Kaien couldn't have been happier to call the hell butterflies that would guide them back to the Soul Society. His concentration seemed to be shot to pieces and he could barely remember what he'd done five minutes ago. He just wanted to get back home and sleep.

* * *

The moment Aizen met Ukitake's gaze, he knew he was in trouble. His thoughts became fuzzy and his mind's focus disappeared; he couldn't remember why he was urgently talking to Ukitake in the first place.

_A memory kido_, he thought, forcing through the haze. _Cleverly created, easily spread, highly effective… I know Urahara's work when I… encounter…_

_What was I thinking? Right, a memory kido. I've been affected._

_Memory kido? Who made a memory kido?_

Aizen knew that whatever the kido had been designated to erase was gone; such a high-class spell would ensure it. He only had a short time before any recollection that his memory had been tampered with was also gone. He couldn't rely on any written documentation; because of the chance, slim though it was, his plans could be stolen and his codes deciphered, he preferred to keep all his scheming solely in his head (he had more than enough brainpower to store and remember anything, after all). But this time, his precaution was backfiring on him. He hadn't thought anyone had been able to create a memory spell with enough power to spread from person to person with just eye contact; it was far beyond any of the developments he'd observed from the 12th Squad or the Kido Corps.

_Need to warn Gin… _he thought hazily before returning to the group of freshmen he'd organized earlier. Some of them were strong enough to meet his eyes for a moment before flinching away in response to a combination of his heavy reiatsu and the memory spell. Ever-faithful Gin appeared at his side immediately.

Aizen looked at his lieutenant's feet while he choked, "Memory spell, not my eyes, remind me…" through the effects of the spell, which had become so overpowering that they'd overtake his resistance in a few moments.

…why was he looking at the ground? Aizen immediately raised his head, but Gin wouldn't meet his gaze.

"Very well, Captain," he said loftily. "Shall I continue collecting students?" He disappeared into another part of the sector upon receiving an affirmative.

Aizen wouldn't know that the spell would spread throughout the Seireitei and eventually infect Gin. He wouldn't know that while Gin, double agent known to only himself, still retained his memories of Ichigo Kurosaki, he wouldn't deign to mention the memory spell. He wouldn't know that the spell could also be transferred via touch, a precaution specifically tailored with Tousen in mind. (He also wouldn't know that the inclusion of this method into the spell was well-justified, as Aizen himself was the one to spread the spell to Tousen via a friendly grip on the bare forearm just before the man would have queried about the status of the fourth freshman they'd decided to manipulate.)

All he would know was that he'd secured the unwavering loyalties of most of the students that night, especially Momo, by saving them from the hollows and returning them safely to the Soul Society.

* * *

Luckily for Hokkaido, Asukai had spent all his time in the world of the living after the hollow attack brooding and staring at his feet, and since he was a noble (even a minor one), people tended to give him personal space. Asukai wasn't infected with the memory kido until he left the Academy to return to his manor and made eye contact with the guards at the gates, who'd seen plenty of traumatized freshmen looking around in fear.

So when Asukai headed directly to Hokkaido after he got back to the Soul Society, his memories were unaffected.

Hokkaido didn't believe that Ichigo was dead at first, despite Asukai's adamant insistence that he'd felt Ichigo's reiatsu utterly vanish. Besides that, Asukai hadn't seen Ichigo's body, living or dead. Ergo, he'd been eaten.

Hokkaido believed it when Ikoto sleepily poked his head into the room upon hearing the raised voices.

"Dunno who Kurosaki is," he yawned. "But there are two or three confirmed fatalities. Everyone was checked at return and I looked at the list. Didn't see any Kurosaki with the survivors."

"Oh… alright," Hokkaido replied shakily. Ikoto, feeling his duty was done, continued on his journey to return to his bed.

That night, Hokkaido mourned for the most talented and powerful student he'd ever had the privilege to teach. Kurosaki had had the capability to become a captain and such a force for good. All that potential, wasted and gone in a single hollow attack.

Hokkaido couldn't understand why Kurosaki hadn't survived. He was more than powerful enough to beat a few hollows. He'd probably been forced to take an instantly fatal blow to protect his friends; otherwise, his high-speed regeneration would have saved him.

Hokkaido no longer cared that Kurosaki had had a hollow within him whose powers he could utilize. He'd been separated from the corrupt bureaucracy long enough to learn to judge a person by personality and heart, not by appearance, species, or power. He was just a simple teacher; so long as his students were proficient enough in hoho, the Central 46 left him alone.

Hokkaido was infected by the memory kido the next day by Ikoto.

Hokkaido wasn't sure why, but he grieved for the next month for something he'd lost, even without knowing what that "something" was. He also found that the name of Kensei Muguruma linked with relief instead of melancholy. For some reason, he was 100% certain his old friend was alive.

Hokkaido spent the next few decades comparing his most talented students to the prodigies he'd encountered. For some reason, even the geniuses Kaien Shiba, Gin Ichimaru, and Toshiro Hitsugaya didn't measure up to some standard that he'd set years ago.

He wasn't quite sure what the standard was, but he instinctively knew that he'd figure it out someday.

He finally found the answer when the story of an orange-haired ryoka with both a high level of powerful and an outrageous growth rate trickled through the Gotei 13's hierarchy to his ears.

* * *

Kaede knew Momo was absolutely ecstatic when she woke up from her coma, only a couple of weeks after the disastrous exercise in the world of the living during which Momo had almost been killed. Kaede was well aware that her gaze was unfocused and her voice hoarse and soft, but Momo couldn't have been happier. She called for Renji, Rukia, and Izuru to come to the medical ward to welcome their friend back into the world. They were all as excited as she was; Renji almost got thrown out because he couldn't keep his voice down.

There was someone missing. Kaede interrupted, "Where's Ichigo?"

Momo looked befuddled. "Who is Ichigo? Your secret boyfriend before the Gillian attack or something?" she asked.

That got Kaede agitated enough to focus on her. "What do you mean, who's Ichigo?" Her eyes cleared just long enough to focus on Momo's, but then she couldn't keep them open any longer. "Yeah… Ichigo… who's that? Hard to think…"

Momo immediately booted everyone, including herself, from the room. "She needs to sleep!" Kaede heard her scolding in the hallway. Normally Kaede would have protested, but her mind was suddenly fuzzy for some reason. All she wanted to do was rest.

A few weeks later, Kaede and her friends were devastated by the verdict that her nerves had been too damaged and had gone too long without healing while she was transferred to the Fourth Squad for her to be a fully-fledged Shinigami. Focusing her reiatsu was difficult at times, and she couldn't walk without braces on her legs. Kaede couldn't see any future for herself except as a researcher in the Twelfth Squad, where fighting skills were optional so long as the mind was sharp. However, Captain Unohana had spoken to her about staying in the Fourth Squad. Healing techniques were advancing all the time, and who knew? Perhaps her nerves would be able to be healed some day. In the mean time, she could try experimental rehab techniques for connecting with her reiatsu more easily and be a bedside nurse who comforted the restless, bored, injured Shinigami.

Kaede immediately accepted the offer; the Fourth Squad was infinitely better than the Twelfth or Rukongai. She was specially graduated from the Academy right away to begin her duties in the Fourth.

She saw Captain Ukitake a lot; his chronic illness often landed him in the Fourth Squad's barracks. Oftentimes, his lieutenant was the one to deliver his sick captain to the healers' den. Kaede saw Captain Ukitake almost every time he had a serious relapse, and he came to expect her company during those times. Had someone told her back at the Academy that she'd be grateful for the opportunities a disability afforded her, like befriending Captain Ukitake, she'd have stabbed them.

She still could never remember to call his lieutenant by his proper name. Lieutenant Shiba had given up after what seemed the millionth time she had called him by a different name.

"Alright, fine. I can respond to Kurosaki-san," he'd grumbled.

The reasons why were unclear in her mind, but she really wanted to dye his hair orange.

* * *

When Aizen learned that the exiled Isshin Shiba had had a child in the world of the living, he immediately added "Ichigo Kurosaki" to his mental list of things to watch and keep track of. The child's name was exactly something Aizen would have expected Isshin to bestow on his child: unisex and bearing multiple meanings.

It didn't register that the name "Ichigo Kurosaki" struck a chord with him until he first laid eyes on the child's bright orange hair. And as Kurosaki grew, his face was familiar for more than just his uncanny resemblance to the deceased lieutenant of the Thirteenth Squad.

Aizen brushed off the feelings of familiarity. He'd worked with thousands of Shinigami over the years; it wasn't impossible Kurosaki reminded him of some weak, insignificant person he'd met years ago. The unimportant ones blurred together and all seemed the same after the passage of time.

Aizen didn't ever connect Kurosaki with the past again. The child was just a mere experiment, unusually interesting for a human.

Nothing more.

* * *

Momo tightly gripped the letter from her deceased captain, failing to completely muffle her sobs. Her _childhood friend _was responsible for Captain Aizen's death. It made horrible sense, the way he'd explained it in his letter. Now she was being forced to choose between her brother and her father. It wasn't fair.

But Captain Aizen had counted on her to succeed where he had failed, hadn't he?

Momo mentally reviewed why she'd choose Captain Aizen over Shiro-chan. _No, he has to be Hitsugaya-taicho now. Or just Hitsugaya. He's a murderer; I can't call him a familiar name…_ she thought before another part of her added, _Won't he be so happy you're finally calling him by his title? _She felt pleased for a moment because she would have made him happy before she shoved the rebellious feeling away.

Momo started with her memories at the Academy, the first time she'd seen Aizen. It had been almost perfect, save for the way she'd clumsily stumbled into the path. She also had a weird feeling that something else had gone wrong, something about students flying in the crowd or something, but she was sure that she was incorporating the insignificant detail from some other memory. No one had been airborne when Aizen had entered the Academy; what a silly notion!

Then she moved to the time Aizen saved her (and her friends) from the hollows that had brutally disrupted her first exercise in the world of the living, six months into the Academy.

She watched in a blend of confusion and horror as some guy with orange hair killed all the hollows in her mind's eye instead of Captain Aizen and the then-Lieutenant Ichimaru. Was she so upset that she couldn't even remember things accurately? She briskly shook her head like a dog, hoping to dispel the invading image.

_There _was the right memory! Lieutenant Ichimaru slayed the hollows easily with his Shinso and Captain Aizen tore the last one into tiny pieces with an impressive kido, no unfamiliar orange-haired guy in sight.

But she remembered the face that had so ruthlessly intruded into her memories (he occasionally showed up in a few of her other memories from the Academy before she was able to chase him out), and the first time she saw ryoka Ichigo Kurosaki she nearly fainted on the spot. He even had the same zanpakuto slung on his back that he'd used to kill the hollows in her false memory.

She would have angrily strode up to him and demanded to know why a ryoka was showing up in her memories, had she been able to move. But it was her first time being conscious since she'd almost been killed in the Central 46's living quarters, and she couldn't really do more than blink.

She never was able to shake Ichigo Kurosaki from her mind, though. From what little she'd seen when he was in her field of vision, he acted exactly like he had in the snippets he showed up in at the Academy.

Even though Momo couldn't remember much about the friend she'd made at the Academy, he'd made a more significant impact on her psyche than on anyone else's. It was subconscious and subtle, but it was enough to allow Momo to see some of her true memories of her first six months at the Academy, even though she believed them to be fake.

Aizen's psychological manipulation of her was deep and thorough, but because Ichigo had saved her instead of Aizen that night, her dependence on her Captain Aizen was infinitesimally smaller than it could have been.

After she woke up from being knocked out by Head Captain Yamamoto for her request to Shiro-chan, she understood that Captain Aizen was a traitor and had to be killed. She couldn't stand in anyone's way for that.

Her mind could start healing, instead of remaining almost irreparably broken.

* * *

Izuru almost couldn't believe the orders he'd just been given by his captain, Gin Ichimaru. If he pulled his assigned task off, he would be committing treason on so many levels that he'd be imprisoned for the rest of his rather lengthy life.

But he had to. He'd lay down his life if his sacrifice meant that he could protect Momo. A prison term wasn't nearly so daunting.

So he controlled his outrage at the slaughter of the Central 46. He coolly led two powerful Shinigami from the massacre. He suppressed his instincts to yield to a superior's demands. He carefully chose his words to coerce the captain into turning back. He decisively attacked Matsumoto, a lieutenant several years his senior, and released Wabisuke. He stood his ground when Matsumoto released Haineko in return.

He was doing all this for Momo. He was resolved to protect her.

As he fought with Matsumoto, he was reminded of a lesson he'd learned at the Academy, buried in the dusty recesses in his memory.

Haineko's ash sliced toward him in a lethal arc. _When I defend, I won't be cut, _he thought as he countered with a powerful bakudo that scattered the ash.

Matsumoto sharply questioned his motives. When she didn't receive an answer, Izuru could see that she started to take the fight seriously. _When I protect, I won't let that person die._ He was battling for Momo, to defend her from harm.

And when Izuru found an opening in Matsumoto's defense, he did not hesitate to exploit it. _When I attack, I kill. _He would destroy anyone who prevented him from protecting Momo.

After the appalling truth behind the betrayal of three captains arose and Izuru learned how horribly he'd been manipulated – _his actions almost got Momo _killed _oh why oh why oh why was he so stupid?_ – Izuru was ashamed. He locked himself away in his room for a week, meditating on his utter failure. He finally forced himself outside to apologize to Rangiku; he'd been so vicious during their battle that he wasn't sure if she'd ever forgive him.

But Rangiku, being _Rangiku_, nonchalantly waved off his apology before getting the both of them spectacularly drunk. For the next few hours, Izuru was engulfed in a pleasant haze that thoroughly distracted him from everything that had gone wrong in his life during the past week. He later realized that the temporary release from guilt was Rangiku's way of saying, _apology accepted_.

However, had the binge happened at any other time, Izuru would have taken all the bottles to the Twelfth and demanded to have them checked for hallucinogens, considering that all of his memories of his first sixth months at the Academy for days afterward included a fuzzy figure with bright orange hair that Izuru was positive he'd never seen before.

The one image that never left him, though, was of the same person sitting with Renji under a tree, explaining the philosophy of resolve in combat. The advice was very real – he'd used it against Rangiku – but Izuru had no idea why its source was from an imaginary person.

He decided to ignore his possible insanity in favor of supporting his squad (and himself) through their captain's betrayal. It was good advice, after all; why should he care where it came from?

* * *

Renji wasn't sure why, but after the disastrous exercise in the world of the living, he mourned. It wasn't a constant thing and he wasn't even sure why he suddenly had brief episodes of melancholy. He only knew that anything colored a certain bright shade of orange was the most consistent trigger.

Over the years, the episodes decreased in length and intensity. By the time he'd been transferred to the 11th Squad, he'd stopped experiencing them altogether.

When he first met Ichigo Kurosaki during the mission to retrieve Rukia, he was suddenly inexplicably angry. He wasn't sure why, or if his ire was even aimed at the kid who'd prevented him from finishing off the glasses guy. Then he figured out that the orange-haired Shinigami was the guy who stole Rukia's powers and his fury was _definitely _directed at him then.

Despite his anger, he couldn't help but aim his first strike at the shoulder. For a brief moment, Renji didn't want to kill the kid in front of him. He wasn't even sure if he'd be able to.

But then the kid's reiatsu went absolutely _crazy_, and Renji found himself abruptly and ridiculously overpowered. The feeling of being crushed by this particular reiatsu signature was familiar for some strange reason. Even weirder, Renji was _overjoyed _for a split second, like he'd just reunited with a long-lost friend or something.

He passed off the image he'd seen of the same kid wearing the Academy's uniform, wielding a gigantic cleaver of a zanpakuto, and slicing through the hollows Aizen had saved him from on a night years ago as some bizarre hallucination brought on by the pressure that literally kept him from breathing for a few seconds.

When they met for a rematch in the Soul Society, Renji shoved away similarly odd feelings and focused on killing the kid who had stolen Rukia's life and powers from her.

The feelings subsided somewhat during their joint bankai training and disappeared altogether after their failed tag-team attack on Aizen. Renji was suspicious that it was because he felt like he'd regained something precious he'd lost long ago but didn't try to explain the theory.

* * *

Rukia returned to her dorm quietly, unsuccessfully hiding her miserable tears. Renji had been absolutely ecstatic when he'd heard that the Kuchiki family wanted to adopt her, urging her to accept the offer. She thought he'd have wanted her to stay with him, for the last two members of their family to stick together.

Apparently not.

He'd been happy enough to let her go. He was the only thing that had kept her from immediately accepting the offer, but apparently she hadn't needed to have bothered with asking for his opinion. He hadn't even really hesitated to push her away. She knew he was aware that nobles couldn't associate with commoners. She would gain a family, but she would lose her best friend and brother.

She knew without a doubt which she preferred.

And he hadn't faltered in the slightest at the prospect of losing her forever.

She wondered what _he_ would have thought about the adoption. Would he have urged her to become a noble, like Renji? Or would he have fought for her to refuse the offer?

Rukia shook her head frantically. _You're going to be a noble_, she scolded herself. _This is no time to think about imaginary friends with bright orange hair._

When she first met Kaien Shiba, she could have sworn that for a second, his hair wasn't black.

It was orange.

Then the illusion vanished, and Lieutenant Shiba was scolding her for spacing out on him because most of the people she'd talked with lately told her that she was to be cold, uncaring, and silent at all times. And because his hair had changed colors on her.

The phenomenon happened a few more times before she was finally able to convince her subconscious that Lieutenant Shiba's hair was _black_, not orange.

When she first met Ichigo Kurosaki properly, his hair switched between black and orange. Kaien-dono's hair was flashing between the two in her memories, too, because the human kid really did look ridiculously like her deceased lieutenant.

Then the Ichigo kid insulted her, and she lost control of her emotions more violently than she had for decades, binding him in a kido and drawing on his face. She hadn't done something so childish since before she'd been adopted by the Kuchiki family.

A friendship formed between them faster than she thought possible. It was as if she'd known him before or something.

(She didn't think he was Kaien-dono's reincarnation, but she'd been wrong about people before.)

And then he was lying at her feet, bleeding out from her brother's attack. It was horrible déjà vu to Kaien-dono's death, and she was losing a look-alike man for the _third _time—

Second. Second time. She _really _didn't need her weird selective insanity to crop up right now.

And then, weeks later, he was in front of her again, grinning like he hadn't almost died before her eyes and wasn't bleeding from his abdomen. (She couldn't believe he'd fought Captain Zaraki, survived, and then was uninjured enough to stand before her, his reiatsu warm and comforting and strong and still slightly tainted with the bloodthirsty captain's reiatsu from their battle.)

Ichigo had somehow become something of a rock for her, just like he'd been at the Academy.

Rukia was highly tempted to slap herself for thinking such an inane thing. Ichigo had _not _been in the Academy with her; he hadn't even been born yet!

Yet the notion continued to plague her. He was her anchor, even after he'd left the Soul Society to return to his semi-normal life, and he was one of her best friends aside from Renji. Apparently he'd been the same way at the Academy, according to her crazy subconscious. She asked Sode no Shirayuki why she'd been cursed with such a weird type of insanity, but the zanpakuto simply said, "You'll understand it someday. Sooner rather than later, I'd think."

"How would you know that?" Rukia shot back.

Sode no Shirayuki smiled. "Zanpakuto can preserve many things when we hide in the back of our wielders' souls. I was sheltered long enough to remember, even if you did not."

Rukia couldn't get anything more out of her after that and gave up.

Then Ichigo's reiatsu disappeared abruptly from the middle of Urahara's basement. Urahara (damn the man) explained what had happened, and Rukia had to stop herself from strangling the moron. She was absolutely unrepentant of the bruises she'd left on him, though.

And then her selective insanity suddenly made sense.

Rukia groaned. "Only Ichigo. Only he could pull off something so crazy."

* * *

Longest chapter yet, though I'm well aware it's not nearly enough for my extended absence. Real life got crazy and my Bleach muse completely and utterly died. I finally forced myself to plan it out and get it done. (By the way, this chapter is the penultimate (ie second-to-last) chapter.)

I know I got a lot of requests (read: demands) that Ichigo stay in the past. But even from the very beginning I never intended for Ichigo to stay. If he didn't travel back to his time, he'd most certainly cause a grandfather paradox (if you go back in time and kill you grandfather, do you cease to exist?) by saving his mother from Grand Fisher.

I hope the explanation for the lack of paradoxes satisfies people. I think it was the most asked question I received...

So enjoy, and my thanks to anyone out there who's still reading this.

-HM


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